Emir's Cyberchase Duology
by Nonamenonamenonameplease
Summary: Following the villains' defeat in a previous battle, the Cybersquad find themselves handling an even worse threat who has no qualms about holding back. The answer to this threat lies at a lost, desolate cybersite. Rated T to be safe. Updated to be easier to read.
1. Violent Intentions Part 1

"So, everything's cool?" Inez said as the kids received their umpteenth transmission from Motherboard. Four days passed since the Cybersquad last riveted themselves in another of Hacker's wild schemes. Actually, the previous encounter proved to be the villain's final one. After a death-defying experience of safeguarding a new Encryptor Chip, and with help from certain resources, the kids and Digit managed once and for all to banish Hacker and his minions to a region much further and more sealed off than the Northern Frontier. With the villains gone, Motherboard was instantly cured of her virus, and cyberspace rested peacefully once more. Dr. Marbles and Digit also included their own commentary as the kids communicated from Jackie's house.

"It appears that way," Motherboard replied, "My sensors haven't picked up the slightest trace of chaos for this entire 4-day segment. And I can assure you, they are in perfect working order."

"Hacker's been resting easy so far, it seems," Dr. Marbles said, "It might be a ruse for something bigger, but we'll gladly call you kids if something comes up. Just not right now."

"And you won't require our help for anything?" Matt said.

"I guess not," Digit shrugged, "You earthlies go on ahead and have fun in your world. We'd invite you over for tea, but the doc and I got work to do."

"Okay, will do!" Jackie concluded, the transmission fading from sight. And with that, the kids sauntered out the door. Today's cheery mood alongside those of the previous three days matched victory scored by the side of good. For once in quite a long time, the kids could finally experience normal lives like they used to. Such required a long-awaited vacation even if was only two or three blocks down the street. But the trio never figured it out until their next conversation.

"So, whadda the two of you wanna do now?" Matt asked.

"I don't know," Inez said, "For once, I'm flat out of ideas."

"But I'm not," Jackie chimed, "I heard there's a carnival going on down at Raisin Lane." Eyes half-closed and a grin spreading across her face, the Sepia's voice then switched from regular to furtive. "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

Inez got a clue in seconds flat, but Matt remained oblivious as he began rattling off various carnival aspects. "Yep! I just love the carnival! Roller coaster and other rides, cotton candy, pretzels straight from an oven…" This gave the girls a chance to momentarily lag behind and plot something, which Matt never noticed until five seconds later. "Uh, Jackie? Inez?" Said girls instantly recoiled from secrecy.

"You called, Matt?" Jackie started.

"Yeah, I did. Why're you two lagging behind? And what exactly were you whispering about?"

"Oh, nothing," Inez answered, innocently rolling her eyes, "C'mon! Those pretzels don't buy themselves, y'know!" So Matt shrugged as the three of them continued on up the sidewalk. And yet, he still didn't notice the mischievous looks Inez and Jackie exchanged during their trek. What were they up to? And what had Matt to do with it? All would be answered once the group reached Raisin Lane. They had just enough money by coincidence for whatever activity, souvenir, or meal came their way. After purchasing admission tickets, the girls' little scheme right away befell clearly.

Matt stared up at everything in utter admiration; he loved the carnival. Tents resembling candy mints dotted the lot. Pies, corn dogs, cotton candy, and other foods emitted pleasant odors extensively. Balloons flew about like butterflies in a field of asters. "What a sight. Can't you almost taste it?" Unfortunately for the boy, his female friends took advantage of his distraction and made their move.

"Ready, break!" Jackie and Inez exclaimed.

"Huh?" Matt broke out of his own trance and saw the girls run off in one direction with no explanation why they left him holding the bag. "Hey, wait up!" It turns out Jackie and Inez decided to start it off by playing a silly game of cat-and-mouse with Matt. In order for it to work, they needed stick together for the first segment. Absolutely nothing could spoil the kids' day, right? Wrong!

Deep in the blackest reaches of cyberspace, the Grim Wreaker lay close to shambles on a lone and desolate asteroid. One would think that after such a humiliating defeat by a group of kids (and very talented kids at that), Hacker might respite and simply call it a day, or rather a year. But being an extremely stubborn creature, the guy with the big chin continued his destructive ways by pacing back and forth to conjure up yet another plot if not for something similar to writer's block. "Boss, I don't think dat's a good idea," Buzz started, "You're gonna make a hole or somethin' in da floor."

"Yeah, you've been pacing for hours," Delete added, "You'll ruin the ship if you keep it up."

"I don't recall asking for you half-wits' opinions," Hacker responded, "It's my ship, so I'll pace as much as I want. I'll pace until doomsday if need be!"

"I don't like the sound of that," Delete said.

"Just look at you, throwing a tantrum like some 3-year old," came a feminine voice. Hacker, Buzz, and Delete turned and faced another direction as Wicked stepped out from the shadows. She too faced imprisonment in this empty quarter due to her participation of cyberspace's near-destruction. Somehow, she'd managed once and for all to prove herself much too precarious for any dungeons on Happily Ever After or anyplace else. Now Wicked made sure the guys included her in any and all conversations. "It's not that bad. Look at the bright side, Hacky-poo, at least you're stuck with me."

Hacker slightly shivered at Wicked's words. Despite their mental density, even Buzz and Delete could hardly tell why their superior didn't just admit his true feelings already what with how much time he tried spending with her and all. "That's what worries me the most."

"Aw, dat's okay, boss," Buzz assured, "If you feel da way you do about Wicked deep down inside, dat's all dat matters."

"Once again, I didn't ask for you duncebuckets' opinions, so just stay out if it!"

"Ignore them, Hack," Wicked continued, "What say you and I get down to mixing up a nice potion or other together? When **I** get stuck for ideas, activity involving concoctions ignites a spark or two in my head."

"Golly, does it hurt?" Delete unwittingly asked.

"The thing of it is, I'm not a witch like you," Hacker countered, "Therefore, I do not mix up potions."

"Witches aren't the only ones, Hacky-poo," Wicked indicated, "I'll bet you've tinkered around with chemistry sets before. How else can you explain coming up with a temporary antidote for that nasty virus you fed Motherboard? And besides, have you anything better to do than just walk around in circles?"

"Hmmm…" Hacker massaged his abnormally large chin while ingesting Wicked's words for a second time. And it didn't take too long to make his second decision all day, the first being to pace around unfeasibly. "Well, I hate to admit it, but you make good points. Alright then, I'm game! Let's get mixing!"

"Oh, goody!" Delete exclaimed, "I love to mix!"

"Can we join in too?" Buzz requested.

"NO!" Hacker and Wicked screamed in unison. The robots knew better than to argue back, so they casually followed along and avoided drawing any more bad attention to themselves. As the clock ticked off hours, the adult pair found themselves emotionally immersed while working side by side; this feeling truthfully came about on extra-rare occasions. Sitting off to one corner doing nothing else but watching, Buzz and Delete seriously envied them.

"Now, isn't this a whole lot better than pacing around and wearing down the soles of your boots?" Wicked asked.

"I've never been one to admit anything from others, but yes," was the reply, "In fact, I'm falling in love with you all over again."

"Aw, why can't we mix?" Buzz whined. Instantly, Wicked and Hacker remembered their annoyance but focused it upon the robots instead of each other.

"Figures," Wicked commented, "Leave it to an imbecilic duo like you two to ruin a happy moment."

"Indeed," Hacker agreed, "Every time I send you dummies off to complete a mission, you always bungle it up. Not this time. This time, you both can just stay in that spot until further notice." Returning back to work, the green-skinned adults took it further by pouring various substances into one central container. But the real trouble started when they gave each other that same peculiar look only given off by true lovebirds or people simply blinded by love.

"Say, Hacky-poo. Thinking the same as me?"

"Way ahead of you, Wicked." In response, Hacker popped off his wig and unveiled three small hairs actually growing on his head. Pulling out one solitary hair and then dropping it into the mixture created tiny bubbles. Wicked continually smiled as she promptly followed suit. Still emitting gassy pockets, the hairs all but sank to the bottom. The witch concluded this experiment via a final drop of liquid.

"And now a bit of orange oil." Dispensing that drop triggered the major chain reaction Hacker and Wicked desired. In fact, it diluted any need for a Bunsen burner by producing its own sparks and flares within the container. The liquid spilled over without leaving chemical residues, its shapelessness soon molding into a more human form. Upon completion of exterior features, everyone else stared up at what appeared to be a female teenager. Her skin was a mixed green value of Hacker and Wicked. Her hair – a central patch of black bordered by red patches on the sides – resembled a flame. She wore blue shoes lined with yellow lightning bolts; gray socks; black jeans; and a dark-purple t-shirt with a beige lightning bolt across the chest. To top it all off, the girl bore deep rings around her orange eyes. Despite earlier orders, Buzz and Delete couldn't help standing up from their chairs to observe this new creation. Everybody watched the girl hop off the table and dust herself off.

"She's more horrible than I expected," Hacker declared, "Whatever do we call her?"

"Call me Blaze," the girl responded.

"Blaze, huh?" Wicked said, "I like that! Blaze, it is!"

"Wow," Delete said, stars in his and Buzz's eyes, "She's so beautiful."

Blaze accepted the compliment without smiling as she eyed the mechanical pair. "I'm glad you two think so."

"Stand aside, DeeDee," Buzz ordered, "Make room for the single guys." But Blaze immediately demonstrated her treacherous deception by lifting the robots up off the floor and holding them high. Before anyone comprehended the situation, she tossed Buzz and Delete into the farthest wall with the impact of a comet. Smashing into countless pieces, the robots' worlds went dark when their brain chips flickered a few times before fading out completely. The adults rather admired this action.

"Good riddance," Wicked said, "I never liked those tin-plated buffoons anyhow."

"Me neither," Hacker added, "And with your help, Blaze, we'll conquer cyberspace in no time flat! I do believe we got ourselves an unstoppable little family here!" Unfortunately, Blaze had other plans in mind. She faced her parents spitefully and quizzically, knowing them inside and outside without a doubt. This knowledgeable branch became clear as she spoke.

"What makes you lazy eggheads think I'd help you in the first place? I'm captain of my own ship; I follow my own orders."

Ever disappointed alongside being shocked, Hacker took a fatherly role scolding the teenager. "Blaze, we are your parents! If you expect to get anywhere in life, you will do as we tell you!"

"Don't make me laugh. I know darn well how you bums function. You'll get me to do all the work while you kick back and laze around all day indulging in your over-inflated egos. How do I know all this? Answer: You created me from pieces of yourselves; therefore, I've inherited not only your intentions and personalities but also your memories."

"Young lady, that's quite enough!" Wicked demanded, taking on a motherly role, "We made you! You do as we say!" Blaze faced her parents indifferently. It was plain to see that she wasn't just a mere experiment gone wrong, something Hacker and Wicked learned too late. To conclude this argument, the synthetic adolescent established her creepiest talent yet. The parents never witnessed such horror in their entire lives.

"I think not," Blaze answered, following up with incessant grunting noises. From the looks of things, it appeared she was suffering from either a heart attack or chest cramps. A shadow on the wall signifying physical alteration translated Hacker and Wicked's astonished yet sickened expressions. Upon completion, Blaze's new form stood concealed within the ship's darkness.

"Um, that's not my side of the family," Hacker said.

"Well, it sure ain't mine," Wicked said. Suddenly, everything literally came crashing down as Blaze spat out some oozy mass which landed on the Grim Wreaker's main power box all the way across the room. Hacker and Wicked lingered soundless as an outlandish glow foreshadowed an explosion carrying along severe consequences. More unidentifiable ooze did more than just dim the lights: Internal circuits emitted countless sparks, and more explosions turned the Grim Wreaker into rubble. After the final explosion subsided, Blaze floated above the rubble back in her human form and observed her work in satisfaction. Only she hadn't been affected one bit. No signs of Wicked or Hacker could be found, their physical personas no doubt charred entirely by the heat.

"They're finished," Blaze commented. With that, she left the desolate area and flew off to other parts of cyberspace. Whereas nobody yet felt the effects of the cyber-mutant's presence just yet since this was a more lonely section in the cyber-universe, zooming straight past Henchmen R Us alerted all. The friction of her flight blew it into a million pieces more violently than what befell the Grim Wreaker. Control Central too picked it up despite the extensive distance.

"What was that?" Digit wondered.

Dr. Marbles glanced upon a map monitor in search of answers. Even though nothing directly signified Blaze's existence, her actions still didn't go unnoticed. "A major explosion at Henchmen R Us. That'll definitely set them back a decade."

"I felt it as well," Motherboard said, "But whoever or whatever caused it disappeared long before I could pick up their data."

"You don't suppose Hacker is up to his old tricks again, do you?" Digit said.


	2. Violent Intentions Part 2

"Highly doubtful," Dr. Marbles figured, "But we better keep our eyes peeled. You can never tell." As the trio at Control Central maintained caution, Blaze calmed once she approached a seemingly deserted cybersite: Nowhere. Retaining Hacker's memories again, Blaze recalled when the Grim Wreaker crashed here and almost never got repaired. Buzz and Delete suffered (or rather benefited from) blows to their heads making them smart for a change. Being passed off as an action figure via the kids, Hacker barely managed escaping the lady's clutches. Nobody observing Blaze's presence considered it a strange factor for a hateful green teenager with a flame-shaped hairdo in two colors to just barge into the site and fly around. As if that weren't enough, no one noticed Blaze flying down a particular hole unveiling a box of freshly baked doughnuts from her extensive pocket (she'd stolen an unbaked batch from a cupboard just seconds before the Grim Wreaker's desolation; the eruption baked them instantly). Upon touching lower terra firma, Blaze took a pit stop by stuffing her face with two doughnuts at a time. However, a deep inhalation signified that she wasn't the only one down so low.

"Am I smelling…doughnuts?" came a familiar voice.

Blaze turned towards the voice's direction momentarily, only to continue snacking again. "Oh, it's just you," she replied indifferently, "Warren the Genie."

"Yes, that's me. I love doughnuts."

"So I've heard. What's it to ya?"

"May I have one, please?" Blaze gave the bottle a quizzical look before popping another doughnut into her mouth. "Aw, pretty please? My parents cut off my allowance decades ago." But still, the teenager didn't budge one bit. Warren grew more and more conned. "C'mon, be a sport… You shouldn't eat doughnuts unless you have enough for everyone, you know. Come to think of it, I don't think it's right to eat doughnuts at all."

That elicited another snide response. "You're currently in no position to tell me what to do, Mr. I-Still-Follow-My-Parents'-Orders. For a horror, you sure act mentally inferior to some kindergartener. I mean, come on! You're older than me!"

"What's any of that supposed to mean? And besides, Mom and Dad know what's best."

Blaze tossed the empty box aside after finishing her snack and broke Warren out of his containment. Then she bombarded him with various physical blows, something which the genie couldn't deflect due to conscience and low mobility. Afterwards, Blaze insulted him hard yet again. "You are such a moron, you know that?" At least, that's how the genie took it; Warren still retained a little child's brain despite his age. Abused both physically and emotionally, he began sobbing.

"You…big meanie! At least **I** never went around calling people names!"

"At least **I** never let my parents put me in some jar like apple juice. What a wuss." All at once, Warren cracked up like never before with a puddle formed of tears and mucus at his feet. Exasperated, Blaze shook her head in sarcastic resignation as she left the genie to sulk. Yet, everybody around remained much too distracted to bother watching her leave.

Meanwhile, the kids' game of tag eventually drew to a close back in the real world. Matt still couldn't understand why the girls avoided him the whole time. Weren't they all best friends here? Didn't Jackie and Inez want to hang out at all? Apparently not, Matt figured. Every time he spotted them at some attraction and tried meeting up, they always caught him quickly and blew the scene. A half hour passed before a perplexed Matt slowly entered the food court to catch his breath. "That does it; I give up. I get the message: They don't wanna hang out." He then sat down at the nearest table, too tired to double-check if it was already taken or not.

"Thirsty?" came a familiar voice, as a yellow-sleeved hand passed a soda-filled Styrofoam cup down the table.

"Thanks," Matt answered, unwittingly accepting the drink. After the first few sips, he induced a gulp at the sight of two familiar faces. "Inez? Jackie?"

"Hello, Matt," Inez greeted, "What kept you?"

"What's the idea running off without me? Made me think you two didn't want me around today."

"Don't take it personally," Jackie explained, "We just couldn't resist making fun of you in a playful way. This is our day off after all."

"So it is," Matt said, standing up from his chair. Gaining Jackie's same sly look, he pulled her and Inez together in one solitary arm lock and gave them noogies. Laughing, the girls needn't pull free since he promptly let them go with a satisfied face.

"Okay, you got us," Inez said.

"Yep. Now we're even."

"And now that that's over with, what say we go get some food?" Jackie suggested. Intent on staying together for the rest of the day, the kids walked over to the nearest food stand and purchased more than just drinks. Except for the carnival's occasional hustle and bustle, little else stirred.

Blaze's reputation didn't exceed her until she arrived at her mother's former domicile, Happily Ever After. Because this place still primarily followed the flow of fairy tales, nursery rhymes, and fables, most inhabitants showed great reason to be shocked seeing an outlandish teenage female soaring through the site's skies. No one here had enough time to prepare their defenses either, before Blaze demonstrated the same brutality she imposed upon Henchmen R Us. Once again, her highly frictional flight caused more damage than a battleship: Trees got uprooted, stone towers deteriorated upon impact, living creatures and small structures were tossed about like toys, etc. Cannon balls, arrows, and spears missed Blaze completely. The dome covering shattered into more than a million pieces. Control Central especially felt the new tremors. "Now what?!" Digit cried.

"Great!" Dr. Marbles exclaimed, "That's the second time today!"

"But it's coming from Happily Ever After this time," Motherboard said, "The culprit has slowed down a notch this time but is still too quick for my sensors."

"Either that, or they've put up a jamming shield of some sort," Dr. Marbles guessed, "Looks like it's that time again."

"This is the second best day of my life," Jackie commented, "Nothing can spoil it now."

"What was the first one?" Inez asked.

"Hacker's defeat, of course." Just then, a cyber-portal appeared on a brick wall to their left. This disheartened and surprised the trio at the same time.

"Uh, Jacks?" Matt said, "Something tells me you might wanna rephrase your second sentence." For the umpteenth time, the kids got sucked up from their own world in an instant and into the more electronic realm. A nearby couple caught a glimpse of this but continued walking along. Upon arriving in Control Central, the kids wondered the inevitable.

"Earthlies!" Digit greeted, "Nice to see you again!"

"Likewise," Jackie responded, "What's going on, anyway? We were just about to play Bushel Baskets."

"It'll just have to wait," Motherboard informed, "As you can guess, there's trouble abroad yet again. Sorry we didn't invite you over for tea instead."

"Lemme guess: Hacker's at it again," Inez said.

"Hacker might be behind it, but he's not the one causing direct damage here," Dr. Marbles said, "It's never been his style to attack like a wrecking ball. We've no current data because the culprit moves much too quickly for even Motherboard's sensors."

"Then how can we catch them if we don't know who's responsible?" Matt asked.

"Hold on a moment," Motherboard announced, "I'm receiving an incoming transmission. Marbles, turn on the overhead television screen." Dr. Marbles acknowledged her request with a few button pushes. The same television set they once used to watch Hacker's act of running for cyberspace ruler projected yet another news broadcast, focusing on today's horrific events.

"Good afternoon, cyberspace. This is Sam Vander Rom, reporting live from Happily Ever After. As you can plainly see behind me, things have become not-so-happily." The camera panned across the cybersite. "The very picture of chaos. Apparently, our story goes some green monster came here and flew around without using wings. But I guess it won't take my boring commentary to tell all you viewers how big a demolition derby it conjured up." Sam then accepted comments from various cyberfolk.

"It was…horrible!" one stated, "Even Hacker wasn't this mean!"

"Not now," another said, "My head hurts." At some points on the television, the camera swapped Happily Ever After for Henchmen R Us and Nowhere. Most people were actually glad Blaze destroyed the former.

"I'll give the culprit partial kudos," someone stated, "'Bout time somebody removed that dumb business."

The filming of Nowhere mostly showed a crying, injured Warren hugging his mother. She wasn't too pleased at cyberspace's current situation, either. "And after that, she called me…a wuss!"

"It's true mah Warren has a hefty reputation here and ev'rywhere else, but even he didn't deserve such callous treatment. Ah hope someone catches that cruel nutcase an' puts her away ferever."

"We'll keep you updated with any new developments," Sam concluded, "But frankly, for once **I** don't like this. Now back to your regular program." The screen fizzled for three seconds before promptly switching off.

"Well, I guess that's that," Matt decided.

"Yes," Motherboard said, "Except, I'm not the one who turned off the TV screen."

"Me neither," Digit chimed. But they'd all find out everything soon enough as the screen momentarily lost its opacity, taking on a window-like impression. Everybody staring up towards it could see the TV's internal circuitry alongside some dark-colored amoeboid pressing against the screen part.

"Hey, that's the inside of the television!" Dr. Marbles declared, "And someone or something is trying to escape." Suddenly, the amoeboid shocked them all by passing through the glass in snake-like form as if it were no consequence from surpassing water surface (i.e. it didn't break anything). It then landed on the main platform in a green clay mess, molding and forming itself into none other than the now-infamous Blaze. As she caught her breath, everyone else acquainted themselves by walking around and observing her over. When Blaze stood tall once more, the kids exchanged perplexed glances until finally realizing just whom exactly they were dealing with here.

"Are you the one responsible for everything that's happened today?" Jackie demanded.

"Oh, you catch on quickly," Blaze commented, "The name's Blaze. I know darn well whom each and every one of you is, so there's no need for introductions."

"Inexcusable!" Dr. Marbles scolded, "Young lady, you've no right hurting others smaller and/or weaker than yourself!" But Blaze simply ignored him, being the rebel that she truly was. However, the following question extracted a more useful response.

"How could you do such a thing, anyway?!" Digit asked, "What'd they ever do to you?!"

"Plenty, actually. First of all, I think it's very dumb to pass off cohorts like they're furniture on sale. Second, I'd like to get my hands on the cretin who thought of using pastries as currency. And third, Happily Ever After is practically a headquarters for stereotypes. As a girl, I find that very offensive."

"It stops right here, right now!" Matt spoke.

"Go hang out with other boys," Blaze retorted.

"Matt's our friend!" Jackie put in, "He can hang out with whomever he wishes!"

"You're absolutely right, I should focus my attention on you more. Maybe I should start by tearing those cute little earrings of yours out of socket."

"You wouldn't dare!" Inez shot out.

"And what have we here? The four-eyed stereotypical nerd to complete the set."

"Enough!" Motherboard demanded, "State your business this second or else!"

Again, Blaze demonstrated her indifference by facing Motherboard daringly and throwing out another insult. "Or else what? What're you gonna do about it, Miss Floating-Head? You don't even have the guts or mobility to land so much as a pinch on me."

"Never mind any of that," Dr. Marbles demanded, "What's your business here? I know you didn't come all this way and stir up such a ruckus just for some stupid contest. Where did you come from?"

"More importantly, did Hacker send you?" Matt added. That seemed to do the trick, as Blaze spilled only those words she considered essential.

"Hardly. Funny you should mention that." The synthetic teenager plucked one black hair and one red hair from her head and focused her attention towards Digit. "Hey, rooster. You got an electron microscope, right?" She walked over to the mechanical bird and placed the DNA samples in the palm of his wing. "Brush up on your biology; study my deoxyribonucleic acid." Digit quickly filled her request by inserting the hair samples into a slot leading to a smaller computer screen just right below Motherboard. It took on a microscope's role via enhancing the samples for everyone's viewing pleasure. Of course, Dr. Marbles handled the controls here and there. The black hair resembled a branch with round, yellow globules for thorns while the red hair glowed in a blue aura.

"Interesting," Dr. Marbles noted, "That black hair appears to be covered in some gelatinous substance."

"I recognize it," Digit said, "That's Hacker's hair gel."

"My father," Blaze stated.

"Father?!" the kids exclaimed.

"This red hair looks like it's glowing, or maybe the screen's discolored," Dr. Marbles continued

"No discoloration, doc," Digit informed, "That's Wicked's magic."

"My mother," Blaze stated again.

"Mother?!" the kids exclaimed a second time. With the screen turned off, Blaze regained the samples and heedlessly put both back in their respective places. Right then and there, nobody knew what to make of this startling discovery.

"How do like that," Jackie commented, "I'm not sure whether to laugh or scream."

"Shocking yet true," Inez said, "But how can you be Hacker and Wicked's daughter?"

"I was created, not born. That also explains why I'm a teenager and you three are still just preteens."

"I might've smelled a crumb," Motherboard commented.

"Enough," Blaze said, "It's time we got down to business. I came here searching for some very talented individuals. If you'll look around, there's only one group singled out for having actually made a difference in this universe." The kids, Digit, Dr. Marbles, and even Motherboard glanced about the room unsure what exactly Blaze meant. So she smacked her forehead in frustration and 'kindly' explained things further. "I'm talking about you kids, of course! Let's face it: If Motherboard here didn't call and send you brats off to do her dirty work, my dad would've wiped the floor with everyone. My mom would've followed eventually, seeing as how she was never satisfied with staying cooped up in Fairy Tale Land."

"What did you have in mind?" Matt asked.

"You'll find out soon enough. Just you three. Don't even think about bringing along that rooster." Blaze stood at the door. "Meet me at the Forbidden Site in ten minutes, and we'll go on from there." And she flew off toward a sector even further ahead of her parents' new prison. Hearing the name 'Forbidden Sight', all except the kids shuddered. It was just another simple walk in the park after all, right? Motherboard, Digit, and Dr. Marbles didn't think so.


	3. Violent Intentions Part 3

"We can take her on," Inez said, "Nothing our smarts and teamwork can't handle." Matt and Jackie nodded their heads in agreement.

"It's much more complicated than that, children," Motherboard informed, spoiling the three's moods, "The Forbidden Site is the most treacherous cybersite in existence. It's basically a storehouse for innumerable, impure elements."

"You worry too much, Mother B," Jackie replied, "We've dealt with this sort of thing time and time again. We can take care of ourselves."

"But this isn't like all those other times," Digit said, "We're not talking Castleblanca here. That was child's play."

"Don't worry, Didge," Matt said, "You can stay here if you want. But the rest of us got ourselves another date with destiny."

"I suppose there's no stopping you," Dr. Marbles said, handing out compact equipment to the kids, "Better take these packs along." Following Motherboard's reluctance to open another portal, the kids were sucked in for the umpteenth time during their cyber-careers and transported to said location.

Past rides had been rough, but none like what the kids currently experienced. On the way to the Forbidden Site, the kids made comparisons and deemed their very first teleportation to cyberspace a smooth road trip. It might've been due in part to possible energy waves the Forbidden Site emitted, or the fact that rides like this always felt rough when visiting a cybersite the first time around. Whatever the reason, it stopped when the group landed in a park full of dead grass and trees. "Whew," Jackie commented, "I thought we'd be used to it by now, but it feels like I got my head caught in a juicer."

"Tell me about it," Matt agreed.

"Hmmm," Inez said as they inspected their surroundings. Indeed, the Forbidden Site was just like how everybody else back at Control Central pictured it, despite not giving details. An urban subdivision lay mostly in ruins under a blood-red sky, with absolute desolation as far as the eye could see. No wooden structure stood upon this scene, and everything concrete resembled holed cheese.

"Well, we better get searching," Matt decided, "We didn't come all this way just to sightsee, that's for sure." Walking along down the roads, the kids made utterly sure to stick together no matter what. But like Motherboard said, not a single trace of purity existed here no matter where their eyes flew. Block after block sported nothing but gutted, smashed buildings standing at crazy angles (comparable to what Hacker once attempted at Poddleville). Metal cans, food peelings, paper, and other trash littered streets and sidewalks. Posters of outlandish singers with painted faces and bad hair covered entire utility poles and streetlights. Graffiti defaced various surfaces. Small and large vehicles either lay or stood silently vandalized. Every discouraging prospect caused each child's throat to lump up, though it didn't cut off speech completely.

"Ugh," Inez muttered, "Now I know why they call it the Forbidden Site. I can't find anything decent about this place."

"**I** can't understand how anyone could've lived here," Jackie said. Suddenly, a metal clunk broke the quiet suspense and brought them to a halt. "Um, who's there?" A quick-moving shape across their field of vision and off to the side instilled a jolt.

"Over there!" Matt pointed out, "Er, I mean there!" All eyes turned towards the same shape, now coming towards them. Naturally, the kids faintly panicked.

"It's coming our way," Inez cried, "You think it's Blaze?"

"We mustn't jump to conclusions," Jackie instructed, "Keep guard, and don't do anything unless it attacks one of us first." Fortunately, the need for battle ceased when the shape came into view. It wasn't Blaze but another teenage female, only not as bizarre or crude. She had ruby eyes; long navy hair; and periwinkle skin, and she wore an orange sleeveless shirt; lavender pants; black socks; and indigo shoes. From the look on this girl's face, she felt equally forlorn about the surroundings but gave a warm greeting without trying.

"Hello, kiddos."

"Who are you?" Matt asked.

"My name's Zandara. You're the first visitors here in millennia."

"Well, it's a pleasure to meet you," Inez said, shaking Zandara's hand, "I'm Inez, and these are my friends Jackie and Matt."

"Charmed, I'm sure," Zandara replied.

"Spiffy," Jackie started up, "Now that we're all one big happy family, maybe you could fill us in on details? Such as, why cups and junk cover the ground?"

"It didn't always used to be this way," Zandara explained, leading the kids down the main street, "At one point, the Forbidden Site actually used to be a nicer place. Even though I myself grew up in present conditions, I still remember it the way my grandparents described it: crystal-clear water flowing off mountainsides, healthy plants and animals everywhere you looked, and overall compassion towards one another. For a while, it seemed the bliss wouldn't end. But somehow, someway, my people grew corrupt and wanted more. They launched attacks upon other cybersites, and people from both sides died as a result."

"Kinda reminds me of Atlantis," Inez said, "What happened afterwards?"

"We lost, of course. And the following decades showed no signs of improvement for my home site. Upon losing this war, the site's greatest minds tried coming together but couldn't decide how to lead or rebuild. Various organizations sprouted up all over. People lost their jobs, riots broke out, and everyone became prone to extreme violence. Some resorted to destroying natural ecosystems via poaching and deforestation. And if that wasn't bad enough, more and more youth like myself began losing all hope for a bright future. Otherworldly elements plagued us all. People purposely ingested substances detrimental to their bodies, one could buy various weapons in a rickety old shop, more and more families fell apart, and pollution intoxicated living and nonliving things alike."

"But it didn't last forever," Jackie stated.

"No it didn't. Everything came to a close when the Majestic Association for Cyberspace Stability, the largest organization around, nearly came into possession of one of the Forbidden Site's most volatile bombs. They would've succeeded in using it to enforce their rule if a rival terrorist group hadn't hijacked it. Needless to say, that proved a double mistake when damaging the transport initiated the bomb's explosive sequence. Everything and everyone paid dearly as a fatal heat wave devastated them all. I narrowly escaped with little to no effort since my parents validated their love for me by sending me 5,000 miles underground. I know all this because they also pocketed along a portable monitor for me to see the very horror itself. Despite the depth, it only took me three whole years before I stepped onto the surface once more." Zandara and the kids then stopped in place, and the teen lowered her voice. "And ever since then, I've wandered about aimlessly without much of a purpose for living."

"That's the saddest story I ever heard in my life," Inez sympathized.

"Yer not the only one," Jackie agreed.

"I don't understand," Matt wondered, "If you had a bad life here, why not just up and move?" However, Zandara never answered the question before another individual appeared on the scene and landed a sucker punch on her cheek. It was so hard that it sent the lost individual flying a mile or two away. Standing in another park with dead plants and not as much trash, the kids finally found their culprit.

"Excuse the interruption, but I only feel like taking on three opponents at a time," Blaze said, "No extras."

"What is your problem anymore?!" Jackie snapped, "Does Hacker want you to beat up every single person you come across?!"

"I forgot to mention something: My parents aren't the ones calling the shots here. In fact, I cleaned their clocks as well as the clocks of those mechanical misfits when I blew up the Grim Wreaker."

The kids' gaped at what they just heard, although for the third time that didn't mean they couldn't bring themselves to talk. Cyberspace under physical abuse, Hacker and Wicked creating a daughter, a corrupt site…and now this? "Um, I don't think we caught that last part," Matt said.

"Shocking, isn't it?" Blaze crooned, "Back in Control Central, you really did believe I held my so-called parents in high regard. But honestly, what made you think someone as competent as me would idolize a pair of dipsticks who couldn't even dominate a floppy disk?"

The kids looked to each other quizzically once more and shrugged. Then Inez broke the brief silence with an inevitable and obvious question. "So, what're we doing again? A guessing game of some sort?"

"Nope. How's about a nice game of jump rope?"

"Hah, too easy," Matt scoffed, "Bring it on!" The girls nodded their heads and bore the same determined looks on their faces. However, Blaze was happy to deliver letdown as her arms and left leg stretched like tentacles. Acting quicker than the naked eye, Blaze filched the kids' packs given by Dr. Marbles and tossed them to parts unknown. She then extended her arms and leg around Matt's neck, Jackie's waist, and Inez's right wrist. Little else stirred with Blaze casually standing in one place watching the kids struggle.

"You dummies can struggle all you want," she said seconds later, "Wanna know a secret? This isn't my worst; I'm not even trying to fight right now. Let's see your little numbers and symbols get you out of this one."

"We're not falling for it!" Inez shot back. Blaze soon grew bored and so retracted her limbs, allowing the kids to catch their breath. Each child then massaged his or her respective areas where the evil teenager clutched it. Articulating her parents' confidence, she mocked the kids' lack of participation in head-to-head physical combat.

"Whew!" Matt gasped, "I thought she'd never let go!"

"It's way too obvious how weak you three really are. You may exceed in algebra and the like, but you're seriously lacking in the more unrefined department."

"But this isn't even a fair fight," Jackie protested, "You got superpowers, and we don't. Not to mention you threw our packs far away."

"True. But if I gotta give up my powers, you must give up your mathematical know-how." Again, the kids looked to each other not knowing how to address the situation. "Didn't think so." The group never caught the following sudden barrage of slaps, kicks, punches, and other fighting moves quickly enough. Falling down without getting some sharp edge stuck in their bodies due to lack of trash in this particular locale was the least of the trio's worries. Moreover, not even Jackie had time to nitpick about mere dirt or grass stains on her face or clothing or whatever.

"This is getting us nowhere," Inez said, "I know absolutely nothing of fighting."

"Why am I not surprised," Blaze commented. Since she retained her parents' memories, she remembered every single experience the Cybersquad came along to thwart the villainous pair time and time again (well, mostly her father). This also included the kids' preference to math instead of actually throwing any punches. To promote further mockery, Blaze walked up to them and lowered her head to their eye level. "Just to prove how good a sport I am, I'll allow each of you a free punch." Clenching their fists while bearing looks of uncertainty, the kids actually sucked up and hit Blaze's left cheek, chin, and forehead. But it felt more like bunting to her than punching. "That's yer best shot? I'm sure Buzz and Delete have been hit by wool blankets that were harder."

"Uh, time out," Matt stammered. But Blaze dragged them back into the fight before they could escape. All at once, she chucked out a longer and more brutal barrage of physical hits. No matter what the kids received – be it a karate chop in both shoulders, a hard kick in the chest, or constant slapping – they simply didn't comprehend a thing. Despite Blaze's perpetual rudeness, no one dared disagree on how badly the kids' dilemma proved their physical inexperience. A simple equation here and there might've worked on Hacker, making him look like easy pickings, and it always did. Because of this, neither the kids nor their acquaintances saw any need to use dramatics. But Blaze was a different story. The same invisible anti-violence restraints holding her parents back must've been obliterated upon her fabrication; it'd take more than a basic division problem to defeat this menace.

Unfortunately, Blaze's final bestowed head butt which sent the kids sprawling onto the dead grass gave them no time to find the solution. They were officially drained of all vigor: hair mussed up; clothes wrinkled and faintly ripped; and covered in myriad bruises and dirt stains. Matt lay on his side, Jackie on her back, and Inez on her face. Blaze relaxed before her two arms became four, three of which she extended forwards. Grabbing each child by the front of his or her shirt, she held them up close to her own face and delivered another casual mockery before finishing the job. "Yep. These are the mighty heroes that made my parents look like complete laughingstocks. But I guess it takes losers to defeat losers." The kids merely stared doom in the eyes while huffing and puffing, not bothering to answer. "Oh, the cold shoulder, huh? Fine by me."

Once tossed them back on the ground, each innocent victim supported one other while struggling to stand up again. "Barely…conscious," Jackie choked out.

This being one of the cleaner locations still included some trash, hence Blaze's obtainment of a nearby useable car battery. She flaunted Wicked's magical talents by loading electricity into her hands without sustaining injury and tossed the empty battery aside. Armed with energy balls, this teenager stood on the brink of ending the three's lives. "Well, it's been fun. I hereby quote the little pirate-loving stereotype: Bye bye, heroes." And Blaze tossed those energy balls up into the air, which promptly arced down towards the children. Too powerless to dodge, they could only stare helplessly.

"We're done for," Inez stammered. It really did seem like the energy balls successfully destroyed them in one fell swoop. Satisfied though not smiling, Blaze admired her work exceedingly.

"Good riddance. That takes care of them…Hm?" As the dust cleared, nearly everyone present received quite a shock when Blaze saw Zandara standing firm in front of the kids. Arms crossed and glaring, the good teenager wasn't about to let some cruel person do the preteens in too early.

"Zandara," Jackie gasped, "You came back for us."

"Well, well," Blaze retorted, "The fourth player returns."

"I have seen these atrocities occur on streets and in homes alike. These children did nothing to deserve your treatment, monster!"

"A monster, am I? At least I know how to fight."

"Let's just see how well your power of speech comes through when you pick on someone your own size!"

"My pleasure!" Like bystanders in a movie, the kids just watched on as Blaze continued her fight by exchanging blows with Zandara. The side of good began gaining the upper hand now with a more experienced member despite that both female teens seemed evenly matched. Never in eons had cyberspace witnessed this much violence; since the kids spent so much time in this particular universe, they couldn't remember the last time such happened back home. As everyone else put it before: Hacker was never this bad.

"Now I've definitely seen everything," Inez commented.

"I know this hasn't anything to do with what's happening right now, but wasn't it 'Bye bye, bad guys'?" Matt said.

"Yes, but she purposely changed it," Jackie explained, "We're not the villains." Finally, just when Blaze grabbed onto and attempted giving Zandara a crash landing, the latter slipped free and reversed the technique. Blaze landed on the ground head first whereas Zandara back-flipped and landed before the group. Catching their breath and staring each other down, both teenagers still had a long way to go before finishing their brawl. But Blaze as usual retained her own ideas of how to start another round.


	4. Violent Intentions Part 4

"You're pretty good for some blue clown. And yet, this is still only the tip of the iceberg."

"You're full of it!" Inez shot back, "What're you talking about now?!"

"True colors, no less. My form you blokes see right now isn't my real form. I've been using it to get around easily."

"Enough talk," Zandara demanded, "Show us what you're gonna show us and get it over with." Delighted to show off, Blaze nodded in acknowledgement and underwent the same hideous transformation her unfortunate parents witnessed earlier that day sans shadows concealing a single detail. Blaze's finger's and toes fused into solitary tips as her limbs became tentacles again. Gaining a more spherical physique, the evil teenager's clothes ripped and fell off (without revealing anything). Her hair shrunk down to nothing; eyes moved to the sides of her head, turning completely orange with black pupil slits (no irises); mouth widened several inches long and moved to top of head; and sharp teeth dotted the top and bottom oral membranes. From beginning to end, only Zandara never gaped at the sight.

"Whew," Matt commented, "For once, even **I** can't understand how Hacker and Wicked could've created something that horrible. Not to sound cliché, mind you."

"The only smart thing they ever did in their worthless lives," Blaze replied in a more grotesque voice, "Too bad you won't live to see it happen again."

"So what?" Zandara shot, "I don't care what form you take on, I'm still not letting you kill these children. Besides, I've seen worse."

"I'll be the judge of that!" So began the Forbidden Site's second fight today. Despite physical changes, Blaze took no chances and fought at her maximum. At one point, she clamped onto Zandara's arm and attempted chewing it off if the blue-skinned female hadn't somehow loosened her own limb and healed herself of bite marks and possible infection. Between lashes courtesy of Blaze's tentacles, Zandara defended herself and the kids like a mother sperm whale protecting her young. Since the cephalopod-turned teenager found she could land no further successful hits on the preteen trio, she immediately retreated long enough to spit up a slimy mess in front of everyone else: the very same stuff she destroyed the Grim Wreaker with. At first sight, it appeared as nothing more than some disgusting beige glob.

"Gross!" Jackie sputtered.

Zandara's superior eyesight noted something odd about this slime, and her next act proved its hidden danger. "GET BACK! IT'S VOLATILE!" She pushed the kids down just seconds before the glob electrified and exploded like a bomb. Nobody took the resulting tiny crater lightly.

"That slime's an authentic bomb!" Matt noted, "I hate to say it, Zandara, but I don't think even you can stop it from burning you."

"And there's plenty more where that came from!" Blaze announced, spitting up three more globs. Zandara and the kids barely managed to dodge explosions dominating (A) some ragged-looking chunks of concrete, (B) a pile of trash, and (C) a section of road. The four somehow managed to narrowly slip away from Blaze's sight before she caused any further damage, something which wouldn't last. They hid behind a raised asphalt slab while the quadruped cephalopod directed her evil eyes toward some abandoned convenience store. Slithering along the rubble, Blaze searched up and down the shop to no avail. "I know you're around here somewhere! If you know how to calculate a circle's area, you'd be wise to come out of hiding and admit your doom! Of course, I could always blow everything up until I nail you!" Nine boring seconds preceded livening things up. "Very well! Chew on this!" And she spewed more gunk, oftentimes switching back and forth between the inside and the outside for a larger fireworks display.

"She's destroying everything in sight, just like she said she would," Inez whispered, "Not only that, but we're too injured to run. What now?"

"It's much too crowded here in the city," Zandara responded, "I think we better take this fight out to a more rural setting." She faced Matt and Jackie. "You two, get down on all fours."

"Why?" Jackie asked.

"Don't question my request, just do it." As the pair complied, Zandara then faced Inez. "You, climb on my back." Once the spectacled girl climbed on, the blue teenager stood back up with the two older kids positioned under her arms. "Hold on, kiddos. We're leaving the city." Blaze's little rampage grew numerous sizes larger when she heard Zandara's footsteps and saw the quartet departing.

"Leaving so soon? I wouldn't hear of it!" So Blaze slinked on their trail, demonstrating greater velocity than any ordinary mollusk. More slime bombs that just barely missed the group gave them a real obstacle course; dodging explosions here and there was more than enough trouble. One glob landed on a 10-story office building's summit and brought down a shower of rubble. Being the highest person, Inez spotted it first.

"Oh no! Incoming!" Fortunately, Zandara required no extra eyes on her person to predict the ambush; her hearing and instincts supplied a neat dodge to one side. In fact, no matter how many rubble showers Blaze instilled, Zandara showed off her excellent training.

"Keep hanging tight, kids! We're almost gone from the city!"

"Wall blockade at 3 o'clock!" Matt pointed out. Zandara again surprised everybody else how she leapt several feet high and promptly touched down on the other side, similar to training for an Olympic marathon. On the other hand, Blaze's constant slithering brought the wall crumbling. Dodging another round of slime bombs in a dustier open venue, Zandara felt like she was dashing through a minefield. She then halted at the sight of a slime bomb flying above and blowing up some gas station farther ahead. Blaze coughed out at least twenty more roundabout, creating a fire ring 160 feet in diameter. Observing everything around all the while placing the kids down gently, Zandara decided the conflict went far enough.

"Great," Jackie said, "We're trapped. Without any packs, how'll we ever leave?"

"This place will be your graveyard!" Blaze announced, passing through the flames easily, "And once I finish you all off, I'm restructuring the Forbidden Site into a military base to conquer everything else! As part of my new regime, I'll start by hunting down those pathetic Lucky Charms!"

"I don't think so," Zandara disagreed. Heat from the flames had everybody sweat hard, Blaze included. Fortunately, any emitting flares were too far away to burn anyone; the ring's interior even contained virtually nothing more than incombustible chunky earth. And even though Blaze had many advantages at her disposal, Zandara would still be able to protect the kids while clashing with her mutant adversary. Needless to say, this fight must end someplace. Just as both teenagers charged forward, before either landed more blows, a bright flash sprung straight up from the ground between both factions and knocked them for a loop. As it dimmed, everybody caught a red eye of what appeared as some self-activating mechanical device consisting of a television monitor, side speakers, and a jetpack on the back. The screen projected a middle-aged, female, average-looking adult cyberspacian whose face only Zandara recognized.

"Greetings," came the woman's recorded message, "I am one of five council members for the Majestic Association for Cyberspace Stability. My name is of absolutely no importance."

"What's going on around here?!" Blaze screamed, "What's the meaning of this?!"

"If anyone is receiving this transmission, it seems I and perhaps everyone else around me no longer exist. We of MACS obviously deserved to govern the Forbidden Site as well as the rest of cyberspace. It probably would've worked a lot better if everybody just listened to what we told them. Our mighty minds contained a power boundless enough to unite all into one central power unit, something that Motherboard wouldn't ever understand."

"Lies," Zandara stated, "That organization was like all the others, wanting nothing more than to enslave all of cyberspace."

"Yeah, we understand," Inez familiarized, "We battled someone who was just the same."

"This transmission can only be activated by a heavy disturbance, most likely of foreign causes," the woman concluded, "But I for one will not tolerate strangers mucking up the Forbidden Site. There's absolutely no way I'm allowing anyone to deface my home and steal glory rightfully belonging to MACS. When my message ends, the device upon which I recorded it shall burrow deep into the Forbidden Site's core and begin a cataclysmic chain reaction. I hereby bid you all farewell." The screen went blank as the machine swiftly dropped back into the same hole it came from. Nobody saw it melt through the ground several more miles deep. Nobody realized the danger until a magnitude nearly knocked them down. Lava fountains sprung up all over. Huge chunks of earth became part of the rising magma body. Entire structures crumbled like extra-aged cheddar cheese. Whole mountain ranges and dead forests stood no more. The sky and melted rock omitted enough lightning to fry EcoHaven. Soon enough, everybody present found themselves on a ledge created by the cataclysm.

"I can't believe this!" Blaze complained, "I wanted to pillage this site for its resources! It was going to be the strongest cybersite in all of cyberspace!" Slipping into a fissure gave Blaze no further time to rant, but she reacted quickly by latching her tentacles onto protruding rock pieces nearby and slowly hoisted up. "Well, this changes everything. Looks like I'll hafta make myself a new base of operations." Suddenly, a blow on one tentacle caused it to lose grip. She glanced upwards to discover the kids throwing various items at her. They'd apparently took her and Zandara's example and put their math practice on hold for this noteworthy circumstance. "You brats are really getting on my nerves!"

"What goes around comes around!" Matt responded just as another item banged up Blaze's second tentacle. Hanging about in that position using only half as many limbs, the cephalopod struggled intensely to get back up on the surface and teach them all another lesson. But unreserved shock in the form of dirt and more objects dropping ceased any hopes for insuring safety, for a gigantic cement block was the last thing she saw. Once its weight completely loosened the other two tentacles, a final perturbed scream heralded Blaze plummeting far down to her doom. Afterward, the kids and Zandara could only stand at one point in time as the disaster worsened.

"We gotta get out of here!" Inez cried, "Isn't Motherboard gonna open up a portal for our escape?"

"Judging by our distance, it looks like all hope's lost," Jackie said, "Blaze got rid of our packs, and they're most likely destroyed by now."

"Hope isn't lost, kiddos," Zandara assured, "I possess more abilities than I've let on up until now. Opening a portal is one of them." Her voice and head lowered again. "Unfortunately, I won't be joining you."

"We're sure fortunate ta have you on our side," Matt spoke, "But that last line is crazy talk. The whole place is about to blow, you can't be serious."

"No matter how contemptible it's become, the Forbidden Site is my home. I can't abandon it."

"This is survival, not moral ethics," Jackie argued, "We all gotta leave right now!"

"You don't understand, and I probably shouldn't expect you to." Zandara paced about, sadly staring off into the red sky. Panicking didn't stop the kids from hearing her out, sympathizing once again and understanding wholeheartedly. "The Forbidden Site and I are a part of each other, and we speak to each other. Would you children be so quick to leave that one place you call home?"

"Huh," Matt said, "I guess not."

"But it doesn't hafta be that way," Inez protested, "You could come with us, find a new home elsewhere, and start all over. Even one of Sensible Flats' barren deserts is paradise compared to here."

"Yeah," Jackie agreed, "Or Shangri-la. I'm sure Master Pi would be happy to take you in. There're a lot of good places to go."

"Unfortunately, I couldn't leave even if I wanted to. One step beyond the Forbidden Site, and I'd suffer in ways you couldn't comprehend. Migraine headaches, bleeding at the pores, and suffocation aren't even the half of it. I'd linger a few days until a slow, horrible death claimed me."

"How come?" Matt asked.

"It's a result of much pollution combined with the nuclear heat wave. My skin's absorbed too much nuclear radiation and other various toxic substances, thereby rendering me devoid of outer contact." Zandara's voice lowered once more. "But maybe it was meant to happen this way. Nearly two-thirds of my life consisted of wandering about aimlessly, reminding me just what terrible mistakes my people generated. There's something I forgot to tell you: Before I got sent underground, I used to be part of that which I now despise. I myself once hung out with the wrong crowd, and this is the painful result." Zandara turned around and quickly lifted up the back of her shirt, revealing only a major scar. The kids eyed this with dismay but said nothing as the teenager continued her wrenching speech. "Because of all my sinful actions, I was the same as that orange-eyed semi-octopus." She lifted up a hand and emanated a puff of blue fog. When it cleared up, the kids observed themselves thoroughly and found no trace of injury, stain, or rip; Zandara's fog had healed them instantly. "You kids have much more to live for. Your lives are worth far more than mine could've ever been. Whatever you do, don't let it slip you by."

"We…we don't know what to say," Jackie choked.

"This changes everything," Zandara concluded, lifting her other hand to open a portal, "As of today, I've officially redeemed myself in the eyes of all cyberspace. Who can predict the future? Maybe we'll see each other again someday, should our worlds cross. But you must leave in the meantime." Digesting these sentences hard, the kids stared long and hard before running towards the portal. They looked back quickly with guilt in their eyes, shrugged hard, and let themselves be transported away. When the portal closed, Zandara walked five paces west and caught sight of a rushing lava fountain stream heading her way. The smiling blue teenager took it head on with tears streaming down her cheeks. "Mother. Father. Here I come." Those were her last words as the orange light consumed her. Destruction dotted the Forbidden Site from a satellite's viewpoint before it all disappeared in a gigantic explosion to end all others. Inhabitants afar saw, heard, or felt its irrevocable demise.

"Whew!" Digit commented, "That was the biggest shake yet!"

"It came from the Forbidden Site," Dr. Marbles noted, "That's where the kids went to! I hope they escaped!" At that, the kids themselves reappeared back in Control Central with a rough landing courtesy of shock waves due to the Forbidden Site's destruction. After standing back up and brushing themselves off, the trio bore forlorn looks on their faces while answering any and all questions.

"Children!" Motherboard greeted, "Thank goodness you made it back alive. Did Blaze hurt you too badly?"

"Yeah, but we're okay now," Matt answered.

"Why the long faces?" Dr. Marbles asked, "And where's Blaze?"

"Blaze is gone, but so is Zandara," Inez added.

"Who's Zandara?" Digit asked.

Sighing, the kids walked up to the nearest window and stared sadly out to where the Forbidden Site once stood. It weighed heavily on their hearts, but Jackie summed up enough strength to explain everything the best she could. "Zandara was the only one left in that horrible place. She fought Blaze to a standstill but paid dearly. And to think this was supposed to be a pleasant day."

"She told us it didn't always used to be that way, that the Forbidden Site used to be a nicer place," Inez added, "But what's the point of putting someone here and taking them back so soon?"

"It's not your fault, earthlies," Digit sympathized.

"Blaze was right: We were just fortunate to have defeated Hacker," Matt commented, "Motherboard, do you have any records of the Forbidden Site being much cleaner?"

"If so, I've long since put it out of my memory banks," was the response, "Sorry, children."

"But you know, children, this probably isn't over with," Dr. Marbles concluded, "Maybe not today or tomorrow, but you'll have to face the very same elements in your world as you grow." The kids faced each other before staring back out the window one last time. No one could deny the truth no matter how awful it came about. But for the remainder of the 24-hour segment, none bothered forcing any more explanations out of them; they'd seen enough horrors to last a perpetuity. Facing such hazardous aspects later on in life was indeed something to think about, be it cyberspace or anywhere else.

The End


	5. Universal Cruelty Part 1

Hatred, greed, and overall corruption knew no limits. These three concepts heralded the Forbidden Site's downfall from a pristine paradise to a desolate wasteland. These concepts brought Blaze into existence; damaged many things, places, and individuals; and finished off the already wrecked cyberspace equivalent to Atlantis. Zandara's melancholy of obtaining no second chances at life would be remembered in the Earth children's dreams. Life was cruel; losses must supplement wins.

Nobody ever quite wondered what made either teenager so powerful in the first place, aside from training. How would those arrows, cannonballs, and other defenses affect Blaze had they even tapped her? What specific chemicals did Hacker and Wicked dump into that container? In any case, the orange-eyed abomination's physical departure was all anybody cared about. The Cybersquad too dealt her parents a good turn before she finished the job. But could both universes rest well yet? Did this all mean it had truly ended? Well, an empty space far beyond Hacker and Wicked's previous prison – the Forbidden Site's former location – containing nothing but some lifeless asteroids seemed to agree at first. One particular rubble-covered mass lay no more active than its companions until a mangled, overshadowed hand arose, knocking over four or five small rock chunks. Accompanied seriousness depended on time.

Cyberspace saw nothing noteworthy besides cleanup and rebuilding in days following the Forbidden Site's passing. How it evaded even Motherboard's gaze nobody knew: A dark figure somehow infiltrated the first cyberstatic-absorbing satellite. Rather than press a lever to reverse the flow, much like Hacker once tried, they instead stood near a slot in observation; withdrew a flat capsule reminiscent of an Encryptor Chip; and inserted it into the slot. In response, a blinking light on the capsule signified draining of the static-filled bins. Quite a simple process: No unusual outer signs pinpointed the stranger's intrusion, and the satellite continued absorbing without fail. How the light stopped blinking clearly told that the capsule reached its capacity. With that, the stranger proceeded towards the next satellite.

Aquari-Yum never appeared so peaceful at least on the outside. From what the cyborgs here heard happened at Henchmen R Us, Nowhere, and Happily Ever After, a few still maintained there was no telling where a new major hoodlum struck next. Somebody just might bash through the fish bowl and continue the rampage any given second. Most others either kept neutral or saved their worries, for one walrus in particular – Manny the Medium – snoozed off possible surrounding commotion. The movement-inhibiting effects of R.E.M. sleep prevented curious souls from seeing his nightmare since a sleeper does not toss and turn during a bad dream, contrary to popular belief.

And what a nightmare it was. Manny saw Aquari-Yum's inhabitants screaming and fleeing for their very lives. Huge tentacles sprouting from a new fissure before the crab palace lashed at anything and anyone without conscience. Whoever owned the limbs spat gooey masses that electrified and exploded upon contact. Be it the tentacles or the globs, something definitely rendered chances of escape futile. Manny's curiosity complemented his anxiety when taking a peek down at the responsible culprit. Something like an overshadowed octopus torso save for outlines of its teeth, eyes, and of course tentacles quit coughing up slime no doubt due to the same curiosity. The walrus now saw that it had only four limbs but flailed them quick enough to make others think there were around one million. Light further permeating the darkness with no explanation unveiled the cephalopod's true outlook. Manny now understood what danger lay ahead even if he wasn't part of the small handful who'd witnessed the mutation once before: The culprit was Blaze in her beastly form.

Exposed, Blaze lunged toward Manny with her toothy mouth at present reserved just for him. Manny whimpered as the creep's loathsome oral cavity dominated all other scenery before giving way to darkness. Back in reality, however, the walrus continued snoozing until blinking his eyes once. He then sat straight up at that, gasped, and hyperventilated. "Just a bad dream," he told himself, "Just a bad dream." A skim across the landscape pinpointed no disturbances much to Manny's relief, so he settled back down and proceeded to catch more Z's. But a quick glimpse at some humanoid shadow with a glowing eye brought a shocked pinniped sitting up again. "You…you…"

"No," a familiar voice crooned, "Sleep." PING! The last thing a screaming Manny remembered was a gray metal fist connecting to his face, thereby rendering the poor cyborg unconscious.

Other activity livened up the Northern Frontier at the same second. Within Hacker's abandoned headquarters, another mysterious figure wasted no time performing most likely self-surgery. Leftover metal fragments littered the floor. Sparks from various tools flew but didn't torch the place. The figure's pained expression told the heavens that it struggled either with its current preoccupation or piteous sounds – destruction and screaming – characteristic of a news report emanating from a nearby radio. That's when a malicious envoy ogled the place…

A beginner's defense class for children ages 9-12 was underway in a gym at a certain settlement on Earth one Friday evening. "Hi-yah!" several voices echoed, chopping thin air. Students, amongst them three-fourths of the Cybersquad, wore silver karate robes whereas two teachers preferred maple-brown.

"Again," the male teacher instructed.

So came a second chop. "Hi-yah!"

"Very good for your sixth attendance," the female teacher complimented soon after, "You're one of our best groups yet. Class dismissed." Respectful bowing preceded a dispersing crowd leaving behind a certain trio.

"And another one bites the dust," Jackie commented on the way to the locker rooms, "Although, I still think they could've come up with more colorful uniforms."

"Be grateful," Inez shrugged, "We're fortunate this class was available at all." The spectacled girl should know; tranquility following the last battle was well into its second week according to Earth time. They'd again taken Blaze and Zandara's examples alongside Dr. Marbles' conclusive words that one evening upon signing up for self-defense classes Wednesday through Friday every week until further notice; who knew how handy it'd come.

"No fooling," Matt agreed, "I feel strong enough to rival a dimetrodon."

Sunset well dominated the urban landscape by now. Orange light dulled lush park vegetation surrounding the gym for a more natural setting from bright green to a dull puce. Cool air contradicted possible resulting heat quite nicely. The trio – again being the last ones gone; duffel bags slung over one shoulder each – spoke not a word until twenty paces away from the building shortly after dressing back into their regular outfits. "One of their best groups yet, they said," Jackie continued, "Think our presence has anything to do with it?"

"I wouldn't doubt it," Matt spoke, "We are pretty talented. And, we got the best encouragement ever…" The boy trailed off as all three paused to stare off in the distance, sighing. Only those still existing in cyberspace would understand since Blaze attacked them and not Earth (imagine what damage she might wreak had she found a way through; yikes!). Zandara…her and her home's troubled history…her struggles at maintaining a welcoming attitude despite internal anguish…the scar on her back…the kids' reluctance to just desert their new friend…for all the trio knew, anyone else might've killed themselves in an hour. But not Zandara. Oh no, she flouted immense despair like nothing. If only there'd been another way, albeit.

"I tell you, Blaze loathed us," a disgusted Inez spoke as the stroll resumed, "She must've been their daughter."

"'Much more to live for'," Matt quoted, "'Meant to happen this way.' I'll never forget those words."

"Me neither," Jackie put in, "At least Zandara's no longer suffering. Bet she'd be glad of us right now."

Inez lightened up a bit. "Speaking of glad, I hope cyberspace is coming along okay. I can't wait to show how much we've learned as of late. Oh, I can already imagine the surprised look on Digit's face."

"Yeah, maybe tomorrow afternoon, Inez," Jackie said, "I gotta help run some errands around town first."

"And I hafta help fix a few loose shelves in the barn," Matt added, "Shouldn't take more than a couple hours."

"Say, that reminds me," Jackie remembered, "It's been nearly two weeks already since Control Central last called; I haven't received a word since then. How 'bout you two?"

"Nope," Matt answered, "Not a thing."

"Zilch," Inez said.

"Figures," Jackie continued, "Think something's going down again?"

"Good question," Inez admitted, "Maybe they're still behind schedule. Blaze was no twig, after all." Matt and Jackie nodded in agreement, and all then changed the subject. Life felt good again with none disturbing three caring friends exchanging harmless words for verbal support. But alas, the balance would soon shift.

Like Manny before them, tonight's sleep was anything but a picnic for the kids. R.E.M. as usual disabled others' chances of seeing their discomfort through body language. In dreaming, Matt walked down a shop-lined street all by himself on a cloudy day. Breezes brushed along, but the weather felt somewhat warm (an actual yet rare occurrence in reality). Eerie quiet besides rustling pebbles and chiefly jet humming dominated the scene. Businesses had apparently closed with the shades pulled down like people were hiding from something: No one else yet even stood or sat in plain sight. Matt heard only his own footsteps the first thirty seconds through. "Um, hello? Anybody here?" Still more humming greeted the preteen instead. Peeking through opaque curtains and blinds obviously proved futile. Knocking on or opening the nearest door didn't help either. Come the next half-minute, Matt called out a second time once he'd walked a short distance away from that shop. "Hello? Isn't anybody around?"

"Matt, is that you?" came a familiar voice.

"Jackie?" Matt faced an alleyway to catch his Sub-Saharan African friend emerge and join him. Judging by mutual expressions, both felt relieved that neither was the only soul around.

"It is you. Thank goodness, all this humming and emptiness was getting on my nerves."

"Same here." The two continued strolling, their echoing footsteps actually rivaling all other sounds.

"Far out," Jackie continued, "It's like we're at the Forbidden Site all over again, or one of those tiny rural towns where nothing much happens. I can't understand what it all means."

"Neither can I," Matt agreed, "But, I'm gonna assume our answer lies within that strange turbulence…wherever it's coming from." Louder walking made the duo pause. Observing their own feet, Matt and Jackie marched in place but stopped again at the sound of a third set of footsteps. They also looked ahead and listened well.

"It's coming from over there," Jackie murmured, pointing to an alleyway twenty more paces ahead. Discovering the source of thus shocked not only them but also the familiar sight of a certain spectacled child. All three put up their arms in defense before breathing relieved sighs. "Aw, just Inez."

"Oh, friends," Inez spoke, "Is it really you?"

"Yep," Matt answered, "Good to be surrounded by friendly faces again."

"Hey, what's that?" Jackie noticed. Inez and Matt followed her gaze and spotted some glowing pink essence in the clouds which blinked on and off before fading out. But it didn't stop there.

"What's that smell?" Inez wondered, whiffing the air with the older kids following her example.

"Smells like orange," Matt deduced, "Garbage soaked in too much orange juice." Three disgusted faces resulted. Although the odor seemed to bounce about, the trio indeed found a specific trail leading them past two more blocks and into a construction site. A fountain standing by its lonesome would be no surprise if not for an unknown substance similar to watery orange paint flowing out rather than water. Such answered the odor mystery as the turbulence died.

"That explains the smell," Jackie commented, "Yuck. I don't know what that is, but I ain't touchin' it."

"I take back what I said before," Matt refuted, "Our answer behind the mystery lies here."

"So what now?" Inez wondered. Even more footsteps delayed progress; the trio turned back to face a pair – one more heavily built than the other – utterly covered head to toe in brown flowing cloaks. Their allegiance required further investigation. "Um…hi?" The kids somewhere recognized the low-toned voices from ensuing responses but couldn't yet place them.

"Can you be helped?" one stranger spoke in a male voice.

"Um…yeah," Matt began, "Who are you two?"

"Just a pair of concerned busybodies," the other stranger responded in a female voice, "Work never comes easy."

"You sure sound relaxed," Jackie added, "Notice all the weird things going on today?"

"What weird things?" the second stranger queried.

"There's nobody in sight but the five of us," Inez informed, "Everyone else's taking some hide-and-seek game too far. And then we got this pink flash amongst the clouds and…" She briefly glanced at the fountain. "…this orange goop. You don't find it the least bit outlandish?"

"Nope," the first stranger said, "All part of our plan."

Irked looks dominated the trio's faces. "Uh, did someone hit you two funny in the head?" Jackie asked, "What plan?"

Removed cloaks divulged who else but a couple who shouldn't exist, period: Hacker and Wicked! "Your destruction, of course!" the latter announced, joining the former in maniacal cackling. One can only imagine the shock on the kids' faces. Blaze said something about cleaning her parents', Buzz's, and Delete's clocks while blowing up the Grim Wreaker; from that, the Cybersquad sans Digit correctly guessed the degenerate teenager meant homicide. How the couple found their way to Earth wasn't the worst part, as the trio soon learned.

"Hacker and Wicked?" Inez gasped.

"I thought Blaze said she killed you!" Matt protested.

"How…how'd you get to Earth?" Jackie wondered.

"Not that it matters!" Hacker taunted, "And since you're our bestest buddies, you'll die first!"

"Don't bother resisting, brats, because there's no escaping death!" Wicked concluded. Hearing a strange motion, the trio turned their backs on the smirking pair and saw the orange substance adapt a clay-based movement pattern much like Blaze did previously at Control Central. A serpentine mass bounced and splattered around all five souls without touching them. Out from the goop came dozen after dozen of snickering Buzz and Delete clones.

"Don't tell me we're gonna fight those things," Jackie muttered, "Where's Cy Clone when you need 'im?" Finger-pointing gestures courtesy of Wicked and Hacker informed the clones of their aggressing objectives. The kids held their own pretty well only during the first five seconds; for every clone kicked or tossed away, ten more took his place. It wasn't much longer until a clone mountain literally buried the overwhelmed group in a punching, swiping fury to conclude the dream.


	6. Universal Cruelty Part 2

Saturday morning back in reality heralded average hustle and bustle according to the trio's schedules despite fatigue. Matt still managed fixing said barn shelves, and Jackie handled the errands well. Inez hadn't anything else to do other than reading some books and staring at the ceiling. None could find their way back into bed no matter how tired they felt. The spectacled girl had nothing more to do come afternoon besides taking a walk towards the nearest park, eventually meeting up with her friends. Very random; none called each other or planned it. "Ooh," Inez commented, "What a surprise."

"Hey, all," Jackie greeted, "Finished my errands. Now I'm free for the weekend."

"And I finished the shelves," Matt chimed, "What next?" Glancing elsewhere momentarily, the three shrugged and situated themselves in a circle on the grass lying flat on their backs to examine clouds. Peering up towards a gray sky made them one with the known universes for a short while. "Hmm…that one's just like a pinecone."

"Nah, I'd say a hedgehog," Jackie disagreed.

"You're both wrong," Inez said, "It's a silversword plant. And there's one that looks like an antique teakettle.

"And I see an old-fashioned stereo," Jackie put in, "Headphones n' all."

"Must be an mp3 player," Matt guessed. All paused to yawn and stretch, careful not to hit one another. "Don't mind me, girls. I had a nightmare last night."

"Same here," Inez spoke, "I dreamt we all walked down one of the streets around here with nobody else in sight. Businesses were closed, curtains drawn, and doors locked."

"And the three of us stepped into a construction site with this fountain containing some orange stuff?" Jackie guessed.

"Uh, yeah."

"Sweet. I had the same dream."

"From where this conversation's going, it looks like nobody's left out," Matt said, "I take it Hacker and Wicked appeared at the end with a bunch of Buzz and Delete clones coming out of the goop?" The girls nodded.

"What could it mean?" Inez wondered.

"I'm not sure, but I could swear I also saw that pink glow while asleep," Jackie said, pointing straight up. The others followed along again, said glow unfailingly in plain sight. All then stood up as if expecting more. "In fact, it looks like either Mother B or someone else is trying to open a portal."

Gentle breezes brushed past the kids. "Winds and gray skies indicate stormy weather ahead," Matt noted, "But if that pink light's anything to go by, then we're in for more than rain and sleet." The light gave way to a familiar transparent female head.

"Alert! A-…alert!"

"Mother B?" Jackie called, "Is that you?"

"Danger! Cyberspace…under attack! Cyber-…static too…strong!"

"What's the deal?" Inez added. Four more blinks preceded the opening of a portal that sucked the trio in and closed; both actions more abrupt than before.

Uncomfortable head feelings outlined their entrance into Control Central in a messy pile, not yet minding Motherboard's echoing panicking. Digit stood offside while Dr. Marbles (both massaging the backs of their own necks) did repair work on the cyberspacian ruler's internal circuitry. Around thirty jars full of removed cyberstatic lay on the left side with several more empty waiting on the right. Other monitors sported darkened screens, and only the overhead lights continued glowing. Getting up again, the kids of course knew what rides like this meant. "It figures," Matt started, "We always land on our chests every time we got a larger emergency than usual."

"Hello again, earthlies," a groaning Digit greeted.

"Hi, Didge," Jackie replied, "Yer neck okay?"

"Not quite. You'll never believe who elbowed me and the doc."

"Ah, cybermates," Dr. Marbles spoke, "I see your arrival was a success."

That's when the three noticed the ever-shaky Motherboard swamped with colorful, symbol-loaded fog. "Uh, what happened to Motherboard?" Inez asked, "Is that cyberstatic?"

"I'm afraid so." Dr. Marbles again held his neck flinching. "Ooh, does that smart. It's a long story; an old enemy somehow returned, knocked Digit and I unconscious for a while, and downloaded 589 gigabytes of cyberstatic into poor Motherboard's hard drive. You can see I've removed some, but I need longer. Almost all our systems are down; opening that portal you came through took one week of Earth time alone. Meanwhile, the guilty party has trashed just about everything outside of Control Central."

"So who did it?" Matt queried, "Got any news reports?" Rather than answer, Digit withdrew a portable video player and a tiny compact disk out of his chest compartment. Upon the latter's insertion into the former, the kids ogled a movie recorded entirely from their avian friend's viewpoint. Shock kicked in when Digit skipped that day's earlier events ahead to a catalyst for something more. Said culprit shouldn't've even been standing upon the main deck as denoted by the three residents' comments. None spoke a word seeing a familiar red-and-black flame-shaped hairdo emphasizing a familiar head: Blaze in her humanoid state.

Nothing added up here. Moreover, Blaze's undying glare seemed to disguise pain inspired by the damage she'd received in the last bout. A rectangular metal patch – beginning at the center of the space between both eyes; covering the upper half of her right cheek and the entire right half of her forehead; extending towards where an ear would belong; and unaffecting her hair – outlined a bionic right eye. The left leg of her pants was torn off enough to show another mechanical replacement reaching up to her knee. Further prosthetic surgery sometime earlier gave Blaze back her right arm. A metal patch also covered the left part of her chest, and an X-shaped scar decorated the left cheek. Her sudden movements the next second preceded a fade-out effect indicating Digit's knockout.

A second inserted video disk having no sound must've taken immeasurable recording time. The kids' poses didn't waiver as they watched panned scenes of Blaze's ensuing rampage in the past two weeks (in a whisper, they noticed she couldn't use her mechanical arm as a whip and that her eyes often switched between orange and yellow). The flame-haired teenager's uncoordinated path began at Aquari-Yum in which she splashed right in without any need for an oxygen mask. Manny the Medium suffered first with a punch in the face. Commotional majority consisted of aquatic denizens being kicked, lashed, and otherwise tossed about. Icky and the crab king endured the worst humility with Blaze using the former as a jump rope and the latter as a hackysack while literally eating landmarks. When finished, busting her way out drained two-thirds of the water.

Hacker's old home at the Northern Frontier received the same previous damage as Henchmen R Us: an apathetic, volatile fly-by. Upon reaching Happily Ever After, to add insult, Blaze shattered its glass dome a second time via her mother's high note. But a more personal assault – beating everyone up close instead of zooming by – befell the poor cyborgs. Cybersites such as Castleblanca, Solaria, Poddleville, Symmetria, Nowhere, the Cybrary, EcoHaven, Tikiville, Ticktockia, and many others experienced simple brutal abuse while still others had noticeably extended humiliation. At R-Fair City, Blaze certainly got a real kick out of pouncing on Spout. Another concert at Mt. Olympus courtesy of the site's signature band preceded the evil teenager starting her attack off by striking a stolen triangle instrument.

Blaze crushed Sensible Flats mostly by using her whip-like left arm to make the horses and buffalo stampede (anyone countering got a lash across the face, back, or neck). Archimedes and his associates tried escaping into dimensional limbo, but Blaze arrived at Eureeka and caught them anyhow. Shangri-La's decision to put its policy of harmony on hold shattered the Good Vibration; neither the golden droplets nor Master Pi's powers nor other brave efforts made the returned menace break a sweat. Proportiona was slightly trickier: The dwarf population fell in a snap, but Blaze for once gained full hands downing the giant half. She had a little more fun at Totally Rad via skateboarding while beating up whoever crossed her path. It occurred to someone here to toss a handful of raw magnetite in her face, to which she just gave an irked look before pounding the cyborg. Blaze wrapped up her presence here by denting the Totally Rad Ring of Radopolis beyond usage and singeing Coop's new blueprints for the Transformatron.

Oh, but it didn't stop there. Gollywood saw Blaze stomp her foot hard in wet cement after her rampage there. And once finished with Frogsnorts, she absorbed leftover energy from some Cosmic Crumpets (which the elders and a few top students – Shari Spotter included – attempted using against her) and laser-carved with both pointer fingers the following into the first castle wall catching her sight: 'BLAZE WAS HERE'. The flame-haired rogue turned Penguia's favorite pastime upside-down by using the penguins as hockey pucks. In short, no one was safe.

Horror had practically written itself all over the kids' faces by the time Digit put away the disk and player. No spoken words left their mouths until Dr. Marbles set aside two more full jars and stepped out. "File saved. Let's see what's new." With the overhead television on, all became treated to a silent news report; the reporters evidently considered the sad sights not worth talking about. Medics across cyberspace did what they could but poorly. Aquari-Yum's population naturally felt cramped due to the drainage (electric buildup absent of course because of Blaze's attack). Miss Fileshare ignored her injuries as she scrambled around reorganizing the Cybrary. Ticktockians, mostly senior, neared structural collapse. Tikiville and EcoHaven looked no better during the former's one Turkey Day celebration. The kids could only shake their heads in pity as static filled the screen.

"Huh?" the trio wondered, "What's going on?" Something like a fighting ring made of stone alongside Blaze's unmistakable figure (with yellow eyes) and the starry reaches of space replaced the static. The area appeared to float somewhere directly above the Northern Frontier. "You…you…"

"Yes, me," Blaze said, "I'm transmitting this message through a tiny radio installed in my bionic eye."

That's when the kids found their talking strength, livening up little by little. "Blaze."

"Good to see you again too, children. Not." She noted their ill expressions. "Watch the news reports, I see. Your faces say it all."

"You can't be here," Jackie moaned, "The explosion…the Forbidden Site…we saw you fall with our own eyes. You should be dead."

"Explosions can't destroy me. I stayed inside the Grim Wreaker when I blew it to smithereens without getting a scratch."

"But that was an entire cybersite!" Inez protested, "Even you couldn't've survived that!"

"And yet, here I am talking to you." Blaze's left arm became a whip to slap in her right palm. "Let's get down to business. The four of us never finished our little jump rope game, if you know what I mean."

"Jump rope game?" Digit wondered.

"That means she wants to beat us up all over again," Jackie said, "Blaze, you can't be serious. I'll have you know not everyone's literally a born fighter like you. You got enough nerve hurting those innocent cyborgs to fill a mansion."

"Not only that, but we're still new at this," Matt chimed.

Blaze's eyes reverted to orange for her next line. "Not my problem." Then they turned yellow again, something that intrigued mostly Dr. Marbles. "But like I said, I'm a good sport. You're lucky I lost plenty: I can't mutate, and self-surgery took a looooooong time. You got 48 cyber-hours to train before I show the rest of cyberspace what kind of joke you idealists really are. Blaze out." A faded-out screen heralded Control Central's occupants ingesting this news.

"Are you gonna fight her?" Digit asked.

"Seems that way," Inez said, "I admit I wanted to show off, but this is too much. We've only attended that self-defense class six times."

"Yeah," Matt agreed, "How'll we shape up so quickly in just 48 cyber-hours? We need at least a year or more. Taking on Blaze would be like swallowing a lit candle."

"Better…start…somewhere!" Motherboard instructed.

"Motherboard's right," Dr. Marbles decided, "I'm sorry to say no more portals will be accessible until this whole mess crashes." He handed the kids some keys. "Blaze destroyed all our transports, but I've managed fixing up at least one. There's a training room at that one meeting place; you cybermates feel free to harness the facilities as you must. Digit, here's a list of new parts I need you to go salvage at R-Fair City to replace those burned out in Motherboard's CPU. Oh, one more thing." Dr. Marbles removed two abnormally large hair strands – one black, the other red – from his pocket. "I also managed obtaining hair samples Blaze dropped on her way out. I'll continue cyberstatic removal while analyzing her genetic structure for a weakness."

Digit accepted the list and saluted. "It shall be done."

"So we're basically stuck here," Jackie sighed, "Fine idea for a vacation."

"Move out…Cybersquad!" Motherboard commanded, "Cyber-…space…needs you!"

And the stage was set. "Why did her eyes change colors, I wonder?" Dr. Marbles muttered as the Cybersquad moved off.

Until now, nobody dared approach Blaze's makeshift arena. Digit worried more about what further injury she might cause him than as to whether he'd make the trip. Curiosity dominating his thoughts, the avian cyborg strained his tail feathers thinking he'd get a closer look and maybe some useful information as he touched down harmlessly away from the edge. Next, he hid an acquired supply pack behind a mound before sneaking from pillar to pillar, ending two boulders behind the teenager. Electronic binoculars emphasized a sight of her snacking on magnetite with a can of expired car cryoxide swigged. How she tossed aside the empty container didn't strike Digit that deadly, but he expected her to do something. Pebbles falling on their own flared up the bird's defense although Blaze just stood there staring ahead. Did her mind short-circuit? Was she sleeping with her eyes open?

Whatever the reason, Digit soon decided he'd overstayed and proceeded off. However, he stopped short at Blaze's next words wondering if she indeed meant him. "Hello, rooster." Digit avoided neither a tiny yelp leaving his beak nor an extended green arm wrapping around his torso and bringing him up to the apathetic teenager's face (dropping the binoculars in the process). "Well, well. If it ain't the traitor."

"Um…um…I'm not a rooster?"

"Oh, so you liked it when Dad always called you a cyber-turkey instead, which happens to be one of the dumbest animals in existence."

"Uh…yeah…I knew that."

Blaze tightened her grip. "Wrong. Without those brats, you don't know a thing. Funny how the presence of someone as lowly as you explains the downfall of my parents' best laid plans…or lack thereof."

"Uhhh…why're you doing this again? Because you wanna rule cyberspace instead?"

"I used to, but now I live only for mindless destruction." Blaze's eyes turned orange before she tossed Digit into one of the spires across. The poor bird was too busy nursing himself to realize the color change back to yellow again. "Don't worry. When I finish off those kids, you're next in line. Tell 'em they have 47 more cyber-hours left and that they better get a move on 'cause every cyber-second counts." Blaze almost went back to her 'staring contest' until she realized Digit's hesitation to leave like she'd sneak-attack. "Well?!" That did it; the yelping bird zoomed off taking the supply pack but forsaking the binoculars.


	7. Universal Cruelty Part 3

Meanwhile, the kids had reached their destination after a quick stop at the Cybrary to check out some self-defense books (which thankfully survived the attack) and explored said training room just a floor or so below the ball room. Memories of rescuing Dr. Marbles and those leaders while learning about values less than zero swamped their minds momentarily. But, they must move on if cyberspace was to survive another century. It seems Blaze considered this compound insignificant if not so much as a scratch sullied interior and exterior surfaces alike (i.e. the place remained thoroughly intact). The training room contained all basic essentials: telephone installed beside the door; weights; other exercise equipment; refreshment-filled refrigerator; water cooler and cups; a huge padded section; restroom; and a clothing closet. "Amazing," Matt noted, placing the books upon a nearby table, "Not only does this place have all we need, but Blaze never even touched it."

Opening the closet door revealed a karate robe array amongst other training outfits. All managed finding robes their sizes: Matt; green; Jackie; yellow, and Inez; purple. "Excellent," Jackie said, "These are what I call uniforms. Now we can train and fight in style."

"Even though this isn't the time or place, you said it," Matt agreed.

"I just had me another thought," Inez realized.

"What?" the other two chorused.

"This whole mess? That's what our nightmare means. It and the foreboding weather just before the portal sucked us in were warning signs."

"Come again?" Jackie wondered.

"Blaze showed us she came from pieces of Hacker and Wicked, so…you know. I'm guessing the clones represent her rampage. As for that orange stuff, I couldn't say except that it matches her original eye color."

"Let's decipher it later if we remember," Matt said, "We got training ahead."

While this all happened, the Northern Frontier was deader than ever save for the same mysterious figure – clad in a black flowing cloak – still laboring away. Escaping the destruction of Hacker's headquarters caused no visible detriments besides delays; if this individual was indeed doing self-surgery like Blaze, body language suggested great frustration at not finding decent parts quickly enough. Most actions consisted of grabbing a piece, inspecting it over, and then tossing it aside with little actual progress. A nearby portable, wireless TV set showing the silent news report made things worse. "Great," the figure whispered, "At this rate, everybody'll be extinct before I finish. Where's that connector when you need it?"

48 cyber-hours passed pretty smoothly. Not once did the kids let up in their training except to take some informative phone call from Dr. Marbles. Recuperation of other cybersites would require unavailable time. Mass media workers risked various expenses setting up a satellite floating a safe distance away from Blaze's arena though well-equipped to monitor her without venturing too close. Carving many pillars and boulders into bleachers, the evil teenager's eyes once in a while turned orange every time she suffered an emotional convulsion as if possessed but became yellow again when she calmed. None yet knew what it meant.

And nobody noticed the laboring loner at the Northern Frontier whatsoever, for such a barren site formerly housing three other malicious beings would never gain a nicer reputation. Why the less-than-promising report remained on didn't add up judging by the tear-stained ground. Different depressing sights brought up different unpleasant memories. A certain adult Chewcrocca's weeps over her beaten child flinching and whimpering while resting his eyes reminded the stranger of a past young boy's wails. How Tikiville's signature endangered species the tiki bird got put in traction looked similar to another baby bird's fatal condition. Parallels existed between a senior Poddleville couple mourning the loss of their home and a separate pair mourning something else. Psychological torture on all sides weighed the stranger down yet encouraged them to continue work.

Battle time came like an unwanted dream. A small risk-taking audience in the stone bleachers, a news crew, the Earth kids wearing their unofficial karate robes (Inez had someone maintain her spectacles), and of course Blaze populated the arena while everyone else remained far away either occupied or waiting. Participants stretched their bodies in preparation; the kids also discussed fighting matters amongst themselves. "This is it, cyberspace," the reporter spoke towards the camera, "The second bout to end other bouts like Hacker's defeat before. We now take you live to our antagonist." She met Blaze with her crew following close behind, all ignoring common sense. "Excuse me, Miss Blaze. Have any words whatsoever for our viewers?"

Said antagonist gave her umpteenth irked look. "Other than that it's a dumb idea standing near me, considering what I'm capable of? No." The uncertain crew members exchanged glances before retreating, only to stop short and turn around at the teenager's next line. "One more thing." She held up a yellow paper scrap withdrawn from her pocket. "This is what I think of your precious snelfus." She then tore it up and tossed the pieces aside, inciting rife perplexity.

"If she was trying to add insult to injury, she failed this time," Jackie commented.

"Never mind," Matt instructed, "Anyway, remember what we've learned: An attacker will lean on certain parts of their body before they move. We'll know when they attack if not where, so that must count for something."

"And also keep in mind what else Dr. Marbles told us," Jackie asked, "Inez, can you see okay without yer specs?"

"Sure," was the answer, "Just because I'm nearsighted doesn't make me blind. It's too hard mistaking her for otherwise either way."

Without further ado, on came the fight. All present arena watchers stood back as Blaze gladly charged the trio (orange-yellow color transition applying here too). The latter naturally started out shaky for many understandable reasons during the first cyber-minute but soon caught up. Preventive techniques gave way to exchanges: Matt, Jackie, and Inez sustained blows only to come up blocking Blaze's every move and then invoking their own damage. Young souls covered their eyes or had them covered. Cyberspace no longer recognized the Cybersquad. (A/N: From here on out, the label 'Cybersquad' will mean the kids with or without Digit; go figure.) Bellicose days such as this should've ended with the Forbidden Site's defeat. Physical combat fit anybody but the current heroes. Oh well, life had its ups and downs. Plus, Blaze was just one of those people resisting other methods.

The Cybersquad needed be careful where their hits landed. Eight or nine times Blaze moved so fast that they nearly got each other instead. But they also noticed an intriguing vanilla transition here in comparison to the last fight. She seemed much weaker; even her organic limbs as whips didn't feel as torturous. With the audience, the kids also noticed that the latter boasted higher stamina like they'd trained an entire cyber-year. Was some hidden force providing aid? Had the Forbidden Site's ultimate demise lowered Blaze's fortitude? Did countless occasions simply being in cyberspace somehow play a part in modifying the kids' natural physiology? Anyhow, the first round ended with said trio being knocked far aside to analyze their situation. "Well, not bad for beginners," Inez admitted, defying direness, "How'd we do it, I wonder? Think cyberspace has clandestine benefactors on the job? Think that training room actually defied the space-time continuum or other?"

"Don't know, but it's not enough," Matt put in, "Blaze has us down pound for pound…oops. Bad timing."

"How can you two be so playful at a time like this?" Jackie wailed, "Wake up and face reality! If we don't get serious and take her out this instant, cyberspace will turn to dust! Who knows where she'll go on from here!"

"Why don't the load of you just shut up and fight me already?" a vexed, yellow-eyed Blaze said, approaching them and grabbing their attention, "Ugh. Cyberspace is in so much trouble if it depends on the efforts of some dumb jock reeking of barnyard mildew, a drama queen, and Little Miss Know-It-All."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Matt retorted.

"Don't call me a drama queen!" Jackie ordered.

"Verbal slams, huh?" Inez chimed, "I think you're jealous."

"Me, jealous of you? I'm not the one cracking bad jokes, screeching like a rusty door hinge, or spouting off useless facts and asking too many questions for my own good."

"At least we have something called a life," Jackie returned, "So bring it on."

Most eyes continued ogling on the report whereas a select few discerned the one stranger having finished their job and leaving the Northern Frontier via foot rocket boosters. Their cloak remained firm despite wind resistance. Just a bit longer, children, was the figure's thoughts, I'm on my way. For now, the fight escalated in the second round into something more personal following further exchanged barrages. Matt uncovered a weak spot punching Blaze's right eye, to which she clutched it and screamed. "AAUUGGHHH! MY EYE!"

"Go for it!" Jackie commanded. Through additional distractions courtesy of the girls, Matt slammed Blaze into the ground and wrestled her like a rogue swine.

"You…idiot!" Her face contacted the dirt four times before the redhead boy let go. Standing back up, the dazed teenager then found herself confronting Jackie flaunting gymnastic skills in avoiding the former's whip-like right leg and even using it as a jump rope. Blaze counterattacked by wrapping up the fluffy-haired girl but couldn't do more once Inez leapt on her back.

"Giddy up, horsey!"

"I'm no equine!" Inez ignored the last remark, kicking the teenager's sides and smacking the head back and forth. Tossing the 9-year old off her shoulders, Blaze recollected her thoughts and calmly faced the entire trio again.

"And you say we're lousy?" Matt remarked, "How do you like them apples?"

"I'll credit you there. Yes, I now see why Mom and Dad would've had bigger problems on their hands. You've been holding back since Day 1."

"Maybe so," Jackie thoughtfully shrugged.

The third round took the participants back several steps as Blaze regained the upper hand through new barrages, allowing no one to strike her bionic eye. All was too much mainly for those closest to the action despite that they never bothered leaving (perhaps out of stubborn faith). Shortly enough, an orange-eyed Blaze had her arm wrapped around the kids and continually slammed them against the ground while delivering a mockery. "Look at your heroes now, cyberspace! Poor Cybersquad, all tied up in a neat little package for my thrashing pleasure! Where's your mathematical bravado, huh?! What're mathematics gonna do to stop me?!"

"You'd be surprised!" Inez retorted between slams.

Curious, Blaze released the Cybersquad and let them recover before listening to their disagreement. "I beg your pardon?"

"You'd be surprised at how powerful math really is," Matt repeated.

"If you mean the battles before I came along…"

"More than that," Jackie interrupted, "Take a closer look at all those cybersites you busted up. Look at how much those cyborgs accomplished. Vast structures, special devices, so much computed information, all backed by what common agent? Mathematics!"

"I let my fists do the talking."

"The most important muscle in one's body is the mind, Blaze," Inez refuted, "Math is all around; you can't escape it."

"Yeah, not even in the wild," Matt added, "Take camping, for example: how long it takes to rub two sticks together to make a fire; the distance between certain landmarks; and so on. And don't forget all those patterns like leaf arrangement and birds' flight paths."

"No children lecture me and live," Blaze threatened in a low tone. The kids knew her eyes turned orange whenever attacking but yellow when major egoism dominated. So they didn't even try dodging when she neared Inez too closely but instigated unorthodox battle methods.

"What's two plus two?" the Spaniard calmly asked. Blaze predictably halted her rampage, sucked up to the challenge, and let down her guard.

"Four, of course. What kind of fool…ouch!" Jackie took the opportunity striking the teenager's back, before which Blaze turned around and begun the cycle anew. "Why, you…!"

"How do you find the length of a triangle's hypotenuse?" Jackie shot out.

"The Pythagorean theorem, of course!" Blaze answered, "C squared equals A squared plus…acckk!"

"B squared!" Matt finished, administering a kick to her side, "How do you find a triangle's area?!"

"One half times the base times…oof!" That's when Inez leapt at the teen and punched her in the cheek. Basically, the third round's remainder consisted of confusing Blaze with quiz questions while hitting her.

"What's the square root of 100?!" Jackie said.

"What do you get when you divide anything by zero?!" Inez added.

"What're the factors of 48?!" Matt chimed.

"How much is a dozen?!" Jackie threw out.

"What's the approximate value of pi?!" Inez questioned.

"How many sides does a dodecagon have?!" Matt asked.

"ENOUGH!" Having taken all she could, Blaze smacked the kids away before a furious yellow glow outlined her against the rocky backdrop. The teenager practically became a walking light source visible from all distances; her struggling expression confirmed that she was battling internal forces to regain self-control. How the light faded into orange and then disappeared leaving permanent orange eyes in its wake symbolized her success. Still, even Blaze needed some last-minute info.

"Surprised, huh?" Matt explained, "You can partly thank Dr. Marbles."

_Flashback_

Dr. Marbles wasn't too glad at Digit's foolishness venturing near the enemy too soon but belayed it. Five hours into the permitted time limit during which the doctor had extracted a quarter of cyberstatic and made necessary part replacements escalated his curiosity over Blaze's switching eye colors. While Digit handled removal come the sixth hour, Dr. Marbles debugged Motherboard's schematics with one sub-monitor and at the same time analyzed the hair samples using another. "Seventh busbar working okay…historic archives of Solaria, check…last century's population census for Mt. Olympus, A-OK…now for those hairs."

"Everything good, doc?" Digit inquired, poking his head out.

"Fifteen milligrams tricalcium phospate…twelve centigrams aluminum pyrite…one gram sodium bicarbonate…some pure orange oil…not to mention some unpleasant commentary…"

Digit exited, stood by the doctor, and looked up. "What're you talking about?"

Further skimming provided a surprising answer. "I don't…I don't…"

"What?" Digit repeated. Ignoring him, Dr. Marbles picked up the telephone and dialed the number to the council building's training room. The kids were brushing up on the open-door stance when he called; Matt reached it first but turned on the answering machine instead.

"Hello?"

"It's me, Dr. Marbles."

"Hey, doc. Our training's going pretty good, in case you're wondering. How's Control Central?"

"Better. We've removed a little over a quarter of cyberstatic from Motherboard's systems, and I analyzed the hair samples. You won't believe it, but Blaze isn't a cyborg." Eight listening eyes did a double take.

"No way," Jackie said.

"Way. I looked over her genetic makeup myself: Blaze is actually a liquid being."

"She's what?!" Digit cried.

"Liquid being?" Inez wondered, "What's that?"

"Liquid beings were the Forbidden Site's original population," Dr. Marbles explained, "A semi-divine species sort of crossed between data and physical organic tissue, almost as powerful as Motherboard but not quite stronger. Quicker developed immunities against substances like magnetite supplementing advanced technology and training made them one mean adversary long, long before Hacker revolted."

"We know," Matt said, "Zandara told us about the war. But how'd you all win if they were so strong?"

"And where'd Wicked and Hacker obtain the right materials to just make a non-cyborg daughter?" Inez added, "Don't tell me one or both made a pit stop at the Forbidden Site before us or Blaze. Zandara specifically said we were the first visitors in a while."

"Not the case," Dr. Marbles continued, "This one monitor also somehow downloaded her memories, most of which are typically her parents' memories. At some point, Wicked uncovered an old chemistry set containing beakers filled with the genetic material of fifty slain liquid beings that another witch scavenged and converted to potions but for an unknown reason didn't feel like using."

"Well, now we know why," Jackie admitted, shaking her head in irony, "Thanks a lot, Hacker and Wicked."

"As for our victory then, I'll try to explain later. I noticed another piece just as interesting. Remember the conflicting colors of Blaze's eyes? Although she killed her own parents, it seems their subconscious minds have resurfaced and are attempting control. That's why her eyes keep turning yellow: She's fighting an internal struggle."

"So how can we take advantage of that?" Matt wondered, "On second thought, never mind. Thanks, Dr. Marbles, that'll be all."

"You sure?"

"Positive." Hanging up, the boy faced his friends with a shifty expression. "Get the idea, girls? Hacker and Wicked always did know how to call our bluff." Exchanging glances, Jackie and Inez shared in the boy's shiftiness as all three skimmed through their mathematical smarts.

_End Flashback_

"To make a long story short, let's just say egoism must run in the family," Inez concluded, "If you came from pieces of those two and got their memories, we kinda guessed you also inherited their flaws. And on top of that, you wouldn't be standing here talking to us if not for math."


	8. Universal Cruelty Part 4

"Very cute," Blaze growled through her teeth, letting it sink in, "Ain't that always the way. You preschool heroes are all the same, relying on a villain's stupidity to win." The peeved teen tied the Cybersquad up with her left arm before they knew it and resumed slamming them. "I admit it worked for a while. But let's face it: You're not used to fighting a smart villain. You only defeated my parents through a fluke like all the other seventy or so times."

"Not…our…fault…they…messed up!" Jackie retorted.

Up until now, the audience kept static and quiet; slamming the kids against one front bleacher wall snapped them out of it. Blaze's hand then split into three to strangle her opponents. "I believe this is the part where your blue friend saved your tails. Well, welcome to reality. From what I recall, evil usually prevails on Earth. My parents never saw this nifty succession coming."

"We're…not…scared!" the kids gagged. That's when a miracle in the form of the robed stranger happened, impacting the backside of Blaze's head and breaking her grip. All watched vigil as the stranger removed their cover to unveil an identity only the Cybersquad recognized.

"Zandara?" Matt said.

Yes indeed, the sole survivor of the Forbidden Site who'd rescued the kids once already had returned to repeat history. Whereas Blaze lost assorted body parts, Zandara looked worse for wear: Mechanical replacements comprised her entire left side including hair, and her clothing appeared to merge at the metal border. A huge vertical scar ran across her right eye. Both eyes appeared like she'd wept enough tears to fill an ocean. "Somebody forget to invite me?"

"Good timing as usual," Inez declared, "You survived too, eh?"

"Unfortunately, yes. Liquid beings like me die harder than others."

"We know liquid beings," Jackie assured, "A friend told us."

"So that's Zandara, huh?" Digit murmured at Control Central.

"Go get 'er," Slider muttered at Totally Rad.

"I've had all I can take from you," Blaze snarled, "You've interfered your last time."

"And I'll keep interfering until you fall, monster."

Blaze slapped her tentacle left arm against the ground hard and made everybody except Zandara flinch. "I am the champion of this universe!" She slapped the ground again. "I decide who exists or ceases!" She slapped a third time. "And I say every single being around me must…go…DOWN!" So began the fourth, final, and most volatile round. Both were again pretty much evenly matched; shockwaves from exchanged blows had all others on the arena duck for cover.

"Talk about a spectacle!" the reporter exclaimed, facing the camera operator, "Are you getting all this?!"

"Surely!" was the confirmation. Zandara and Blaze fought so hard that it felt like everyone was right next to the action no matter how far away.

Between tremors, Dr. Marbles had meanwhile removed the last trace of cyberstatic from Motherboard's systems. "Finally! Restore defaults." Rebooting caused a temporary shutdown ignored only by the arena attendants.

"All systems back online," Motherboard announced, "Well done, Marbles. But it's become quite shaky in here." She eyed the televised fight. "Ooh."

"That blue girl is the kids' friend Zandara," Digit informed.

"And the two of them are liquid beings; I know, Digit."

Back on the arena, Blaze at last sent Zandara crashing upon a rugged section. All thought the good teenager might've lost but continued observing just in case. Levitating down halfway, the bad one twirled her tentacle arm like a mace and waited. Seeing Zandara stand up again invoked another tantrum. "Die hard!"

Blaze lashed only to have her limb caught. Torturous thoughts zipped through Zandara's mind: the Forbidden Site's oppressed fraction; injured cyborg animals; other beaten innocents; her whole existence; etc. Pent-up emotions fueled her strength as her grip tightened. "MY…REDEMPTION…ISN'T…OVER!" Zandara pulled Blaze down and purposely let the bad one collide while dust clouds concealed both. When it settled, all perceived an amorphous periwinkle mass with clay-based consistency attempt swallowing the green renegade head to toe. Zandara so far enveloped Blaze's shoulders, arms, and her head sans her mouth and chin. "I hear you lost your ability to mutate! Well, look where it went!"

"You really think you can stop me with my own technique?!" Resistance aided the evil side. As a mold, Zandara's limits seemed double-sided how she slithered along down Blaze only to reverse. Motherboard realized this cycle and made her final decision what must happen next.

"Marbles. Digit. Go to the arena."

"What for?" said pair asked.

"Moral support. The kids and Zandara would benefit from your presence." Hesitant, the two departed for said location while the ruling entity sent an undisturbed distress call to every cyberspacian authority. "Leaders of cyberspace! Do you read me?"

"Loud and clear, MB," King Dudakis confirmed.

"The conflict which has befallen us all can no longer be tolerated. Zandara, the girl defending our honor, now needs us to act."

"Any ideas?" Master Pi asked.

"Recall our past war against the Forbidden Site. Analysis shows that Blaze is a very robust liquid being created from pieces of a small army of fifty slain to which she therefore has strength equivalent. Previous efforts have proven futile, leaving one last option."

"You don't mean…?" Creech began.

"Yes. We must use our secret weapon the Sigma Pressure." All leaders gasped and shuddered.

"Ah ain't so sure 'bout that," Sheriff Judy said, "Didn't th'last leaders kick th'bucket last time it got used?"

"Please try to understand. I wouldn't request it if given a choice, but that's exactly what we don't have given our circumstances. Now concentrate; I've a different form planned." The leaders followed her command and kept static. None dared interfere as each one glowed in rainbows, lending Motherboard energy to focus into a single mass. Such took tremendous effort considering earlier beatings but was worth it although all fell to their knees afterward.

"Am ah dead?" Judge Trudy wondered.

Motherboard then sent the beam Zandara's way to absorb, ending the cycle. "Thank you, Motherboard," the blue liquid being said, swallowing the green one without further resistance. Perturbed yells echoed as the last portions of Blaze's feet disappeared within. Chewing sounded more like clinking chains. Bobbing, rippling, and wiggling preceded a light-blue glow.

"Now what?" Jackie moaned. A blue explosion like one giant firecracker lit up the black backdrop. Softball-sized blue projectiles fired across cyberspace, invoking fear and uncertainty. But a beneficial surprise alleviated stress: Each projectile repaired damage and healed injuries it crossed before evaporating. Civilians leapt into one another's arms. Now joyful tears streamed down the Chewcrocca mother/son couple's eyes with Nero the Animal Hero joining in. Tikiville smiled at a healthy tiki bird and vegetation. Slider and Coop embraced. At the same moment, umpteenth black and red hair strands (one of each) someway teleported into dimensional limbo. Both grew angry orange eyes and would've acted had Motherboard's overwhelming shadow not paralyzed them.

"So. I don't have the guts or mobility, huh?" The hairs' panicked squeaks preceded a huge blast from her eyes that utterly incinerated them. Digit and Dr. Marbles reached the arena meanwhile as the blue glow subsided and Zandara in humanoid form levitated downward.

"Earthlies!" Digit greeted, "Oh, my neck doesn't hurt anymore."

"Hey, Didge," Matt returned, "We're good too." Cheers rang high when Zandara's feet contacted the ground. The Cybersquad moved in closer to acquaint.

"Again, nice job, Zan," Jackie complimented, "This bird is our friend Digit."

"Pleased ta meet you," Digit said, holding out a wing.

"Likewise." Cheers abated as Zandara walked forward still wearing her exhausted, foreboding expression, apparently ignoring the Cybersquad.

"Sheesh," Inez commented, "That fight really took its toll on her."

The blue teenager continued strolling past the ring's center until the news group acted. "Excuse me, Miss Zandara," the reporter spoke, "Do you have any words for our viewers?"

Pausing in place albeit facing no one confirmed that she did. "Remember the good…and the bad." With that, the blue teenager's bionic eye switched off as she gave a strangled cry from chest pains.

"Zandara!" the Earth children cried, them and Digit rushing forward.

But it was no use; the last true liquid being closed her eyes and collapsed to the ground back first. Her lungs took in one more breath before the whole body lay forever still. Two slots opened up on the mechanical side of her head, each ejecting a video disc. Dr. Marbles joined the procession, accepted the discs before the slots closed again, and grabbed Zandara's wrist to feel for a pulse. His next words created universal shudders. "She's cold."

Pitifully shaken heads and sorrowful tears modified Zandara's funeral, but no reaction compared to what lay on the two discs. Everyone decided that all must view their contents to find answers located only there as well as out of respect for their savior. With certain parts being censored, it was plain to note that she'd 'pasted together' movie segments like a magazine collage judging by varied film quality. No spoken words permeated the atmosphere.

The first disc boasted a general silent documentary about her former home, called the Forbidden Site even during its pure days. Being reminiscent of Atlantis was a true understatement according to similar architecture and whatnot. The liquid beings had quite a simple way of life: livestock power, wagons, farms, rickety huts, stone buildings with columns, etc. Peace and healthy environments like Zandara last described dominated the scene. And as Dr. Marbles already explained, neither magnetite nor cyberstatic nor much otherwise bothered liquid beings since they developed immunities quicker than any cyborg (not to mention trained themselves to withstand hefty impacts; never knew when it might come handy). Of course, with technology and resources still limited at the time, the fact that no one dared visit the Forbidden Site then created a gap in cyberspacian historic archives.

Delightful sighs gave way to disappointed groans as the movie progressed. The Forbidden Site one fateful day attracted bizarre ribbon-like energy streams absorbed by scattered boulders. A catalyst to something horrible, intellectual minds later found they could use this essence to advance their society. While the rest of cyberspace was only halfway through the Bronze Age, the Forbidden Site had invented floating automobiles. Liquid beings weren't interested merely in reaching the stars next, needless to say. Having reached limits on home ground (including realizing the existence of other cybersites), they found it wasn't enough and so launched exploitations. The encountered cyborgs didn't waver to defend their homes, and when unreasonable negotiations fell through, war became the only option. Liquid beings predictably held the upper hand due to advanced physiology and technology regardless of their own casualties.

Lasting almost half a decade, the war wrongly impressed the cyborgs that no liquid being desired kinship amongst anybody besides their own. Hope smiled upon them via a special yet deadly technique when each cybersite's leader lent Motherboard a portion of his or her energy to focus into a special beam. Unlike this weekend, in which cyberspace's highest authority used a slightly gentler variation to empower Zandara, the kind used then was a mighty laser cannon that wholly cut through the enemy army's every defense. Countless soldiers fell at the expense of every cyborg leader's life. The Forbidden Site would've abused Motherboard's one-year shutdown if not for upcoming home riots. Losing just wasn't acceptable as far as the semi-divine population cared. Deposing old leaders paved the way for greater loss ahead.

Gone were the simple, happier days. Gone were the advancements, kindness, hope, natural beauty, and cooperation. Different groups of intellectuals and authoritarians each insisted that they knew the right way to rebuild. Multiple organizations formed, the most notable being MACS a.k.a. the Majestic Association for Cyberspace Stability. Constant home conflicts not only destroyed environments but also delayed a revived war. Then came the second worst downfall. Southern customs perfected a special, extremely volatile bomb and had it transported via armored truck to the northern MACS headquarters. Unfortunately, rival terrorists mistakenly hijacked the vehicle en route of course for their own purposes and set the bomb off prematurely. Within several hours, the heat wave roasting the Forbidden Site's exterior surface claimed all but one life (preserving most if not all synthetic objects).

The second disc contained Zandara's autobiography: having its share of censoring, recorded from her viewpoint, and with sound. Born sometime after the war, Zandara obviously grew up amongst the filth despite that her innocent nature suggested otherwise. Only dead generations experienced the Forbidden Site's original shape; grandparents on both sides merely maintained history should libraries fail. Economic status also defied milieu: Zandara's parents' jobs as architects made the family better off than most neighbors, but they didn't abuse it. The girl was well-behaved and obedient but reasonably nervous. Although it seemed difficult refusing her friendship, not a day passed without Zandara worrying some lowlife might come her way and turn it inside-out.

Unfortunately, that's just what happened at a convenience store weeks after her tenth birthday. She and her maternal grandfather got caught in an armed robbery invoked by three students she recognized from her 5th-grade class immediately arrested after; up until now, the girl only dreamed of such. Nighttime provided Zandara (she and gramps miraculously escaping unscathed) opportunity lying in bed to let everything sink in. It then became clear that nothing would improve no matter how much she desired it so. Plus, it's not like anyone outside home returned or even appreciated her kindness. Zandara now knew she must toughen up in to continue surviving the cruel universe. Ensuing weeks witnessed the girl building up her defenses, making a real name for herself on the streets, and earning family admiration. She couldn't escape conceit, however, and in the process became the largest bully in her neighborhood.

Loved ones learned it but for some reason lacked confidence to discipline the child. Maternal and paternal grandparents alike even died of resulting sadness. Continuing four more years, not once did Zandara crudely adorn herself (no doubt a glint of possible redemption). A select few saw her as a leader. Her cruel misdeeds towards others included (A) kicking a poor little boy around and partially asphyxiating him in mud with her clique watching; (B) killing a baby bird that'd fallen out of a tree and couldn't fly yet, chuckling cruelly as she left the parents to mourn her (the baby, that is); (C) filching the money from an old couple's near-empty wallets; and so on. Come two days before the Forbidden Site's burning, someone at last found the nerve to challenge Zandara's rank. A brawl ended ugly with a scream outlining some major backside injury the shadows hid. The blue girl straggled home, collapsing as she entered the doorway. Her shocked parents wasted no time getting her into a pod-like bed, bandaging, and then calmly lecturing their daughter.

The night had Zandara repeating history, seeing how her life had long since fallen apart. So that's what she meant by 'Remember the good and the bad'. Whenever recovery came, she promised herself she'd become good-hearted again while retaining self-defense. No chance. Parental actions on the third day showed not only love but also premonition: sending their daughter far underground to escape; and including a portable monitor device playing a televised news report on the nuclear disaster scarring Zandara forever. She didn't dare execute escape until two months later. Three years saw her climb back up the tunnel which had long since been plugged. Her skin absorbed bits of various decade-old pollutants every once in a while sans noticeable symptoms (other than that her clothes seemed to grow with her body and she remained a teenager following those three years).

Reaching the surface, Zandara suffered temporary cramps as she endured a radiation 'bath' and her lungs readjusted. Later study revealed that combined pollution sources had empowered her: super speed; leaping great distances and heights; regenerative blue fog; super strength; fantastic physical defense; improved senses; no need to consume food or drink; and opening portals without needing portal dust. Although training brought these new powers under control, the last one revealed what price outlined all. Four teleportations to the nearest neighboring masses made Zandara suffer just like she told the Cybersquad until she finally forfeited. Punishment became clear: Zandara would forever wander the Forbidden Site as punishment for her and her species' mistakes. Healing anything besides herself was out of the question since the place was pretty much damaged beyond repair.

Alleviated radiation let the Cybersquad breathe okay during their sole visit there and also let Zandara heal them without transferring toxins despite that she still couldn't leave. Instead of dying, the blue teenager's superpowers enabled unwanted survival though the explosion rendered her left side dreadfully singed. Other effects included (A) loss of both portal-opening and regeneration; (B) the huge eye scar; (C) lungs able to adapt to all environments; and (D) defense power halved. Zandara's preparations naturally took longer than Blaze's due to balancing between repairing greater injuries and recording the movies. Viewers noted counterpart qualities in the two teenagers: Alongside evenly matched forte, Blaze was like the shell Zandara long since exuviated. And their rivalry followed into death, which Dr. Marbles interrupted the movie at correctly believing all watched enough. It was then best decided that the discs belonged within the Cybrary's deepest sector.

5:45 PM on Earth saw the kids – back in their usual attire (including spectacles on Inez's part) – strolling down the sidewalks once more, worse off since heaven knew when. If the first experience wasn't fair for their navy-haired friend, whom they'd barely gotten to know, this one took it unreasonably further. How they'd explain depression to their parents didn't matter right now. "I can't understand," Jackie sighed, "I…I just can't understand."

"Easy, Jacks," Inez assured though not convincing, "Look at it this way: Now she's no longer suffering."

"Yeah," Matt agreed, "At least you won't be the only one unable to concentrate on much for a month or so."

"Still," Jackie continued, "We really overlook how good we have it. Even though we won, it feels like we lost." Inez and Matt like-mindedly nodded before three simple glances at the clouds made the trio pause at a familiar shape. Blinking, they squinted but found nothing interesting. "Did you two see what **I** just saw?"

"Looked like her smiling and watching over us," Matt guessed, instigating more agreeing nods, "Zandara, that is." Additional sky examination preceded the three souls exchanging thoughtful glances supplemented by minor relief through tiny smiles. "Wow. I guess it's true that life goes on no matter how bad things seem."

"I take back what I said," Jackie refuted, "Perhaps we won more than we realized."

"Thanks for everything, Zandara," Inez murmured. And the grateful friends continued along hand in hand, feeling a little better. No matter what lay ahead in later years, regardless of anything, at least they'd always have each other.

The End

Note: Forget all the media you've ever sampled. The real world is a horror story.


End file.
